New Habits
by Alltheabove
Summary: & he was my new habit. Niley.
1. Chapter 1

**New Habits  
One.**

Summertime has always brought me joy, always pressured me to just go outside in the middle of the night and look up at the stars, and sometimes to just fall asleep in the prickly grass. I never imagined that there would ever be a summer when I didn't wish to go outside, to enjoy life, but instead to sit inside my boyfriend's apartment and think about how bad my life is.

Some people could say that I'm crazy, my life is wonderful. And from the outside perspective, I would agree with them. My boyfriend is making a wonderful amount of money in the business industry. And I would never complain about this apartment, it has an excellent view of the city, is furnished with all the modern styles, and allows me to store all the clothing that anyone could ever afford. So, why am I sulking? Thinking about how bad my life is?

My boyfriend is the issue. Yes, he's making wondrous money and allows me to stay in this lavish apartment but that's all he does.

At first our relationship was glorious, full of love, hugs and kisses. Our relationship was the perfect setting for a fairy-tale book. But we slowly started to plummet, or maybe I should say, he started to show his true self. What used to be sweet, loving and glowing from the feeling of love is now mean, loveless, and dull. He may be able to fulfill my wishes of one day owning a Ferrari or buy me all the high-tail designer clothes but without his love, or happiness, I don't want any of it. Because apparently, money can't buy love, no matter how many people say it can.

I've tried to bring up the conversation, telling him that our love isn't love anymore. But he just pushes the subject to the side, slinging his coat over the back of the couch, claiming that he's tired before heading toward the bedroom to sleep. If he isn't willing to talk about it, then there isn't a chance in the world that our relationship will ever work out.

Major decisions need to be made, and I'm not the best person to deal with decisions. That's why I have a counselor, who helps me think things through before I make rash decisions. Unfortunately, my counselor left town for two months for a vacation. And I'm not quite sure that I can wait two more months without doing something. I have a feeling I'm going to do something that could end up being completely and utterly the worst mistake that I've ever made.

On the positive side, my decision could turn out to be one of the best choices that I've ever made. Let's just keep focusing on the positive side.

My finger swirls around the top of my glass; I have a habit of pouring myself a glass of champagne when I'm trying to think things through. I've discovered that not even drinking it, just holding it a glass in my hand really helps the process. My eyes look down into the light brown liquid, my reflection staring straight back at me. Except, this isn't me. My reflection has been a totally different girl than I once knew for months now. I don't want to continue to look at her, I want to be able to look in the mirror and be able to tell that it's me. That I'm happy.

The door pushes open and I slowly look toward the door, not even bothering to put on a smile. He walks through the door, pushes it shut, removes his jacket, hanging it sloppily on the coat rack beside the door. He doesn't even acknowledge that I'm sitting on the couch, never mind the fact that there might be something wrong with me. He ignores me altogether, walking into the kitchen to get him a bite to eat before going to the bedroom. It's become a ritual; this is what he does every night when he comes home from work. Nothing more, nothing less.

A sigh rips from my mouth; I look toward the glass balcony door in the living room, staring out at the bright lights of the beautiful city. I've always loved the city; it's always been my home. I never thought that one day I would look out a window that overlooked it and wish that I were somewhere else. But tonight, that's exactly what I'm doing.

A couple few hours later I rise from the couch, champagne glass in hand. My feet lead me to the kitchen; I quickly gulp down the remaining liquid in my glass and stick it in the dishwasher. I look toward the bedroom door, the lights are off and the door is shut. No doubt, he is lying peacefully in the bed, not a care in the world, as he sleeps, a light snore erupting from his mouth every ten or so minutes. My eyes flutter shut, salty water building up in my tear ducts. I push them away and open my eyes once again.

Without a second thought I turn off the kitchen light, walking back into the living room. I turn off the light and climb back onto the couch, pulling the cover resting over the back of the couch onto my body. My hand slips up under my head and I look back out the window, allowing the bright city lights to put me to sleep.

**A/n: **Credit to TheHeartNeverLies442 for the title!**  
**I know this is really short, but I promise the next chapter will be longer. :)  
So, it's my birthday, tomorrow…! My Sixteenth Birthday, to be exact:). And, I'm all about posting something on my birthday as my present to you all. Cause, as you may know, my present in return is the reviews. I'm posting before because it's the weekend, and I don't really like posting on Mondays.  
I really like how this story is going for me, and I'm not the best updater, especially right now because we're 14 days away from competition, I'm studying for my permit, and school's always a bummer, but I'm going to try really hard on this story and I'm hoping that you all will like it just as much. :)


	2. Chapter 2

**New Habits  
Two.**

An abrupt decision has been made, and I'm not willing to back out of it now. It didn't take long for my mind to come to its conclusion. At four a.m. I woke up, knowing exactly what I wanted. I can't stand being here any longer; I can't stand being around a guy who won't even speak to me whenever he comes home from work. I deserve at least a 'hello'. And that's at the least.

I tip-toe into the bedroom, opening the closet door with ease, once I'm inside I shut the door. I turn on the light and instantly grab my suitcase, opening it up and grabbing all of my most valuable clothes from the hangers, folding them delicately and putting them into the large suitcase in an organized manner so that I can fit more stuff inside. Once I'm done going through my clothes, I sneak out of the closet, heading straight for the bathroom. I look around quickly, picking up my straightner, curling iron, gel, razor, shaving cream, a box of tampons and my makeup. I carry all of my items back into the closet, shoving them inside. I zip up the suitcase and roll it outside, into the living room.

I check my watch, 5:30 a.m., just enough time to put on a fresh outfit and pull up my hair before he wakes up. I walk back into my closet, pulling off my dirty clothes before slipping on some better smelling clothes. I pick out a pair of shoes, shoving them onto my feet. Then I take my hair out, pulling it right back up, into a better pony. I quickly check the room, making sure that I'm not forgetting anything important. Feeling confident, I turn the light off to the closet and exit.

I get back into the living room before I remember that it's still early in the morning and I might need a jacket. I do a 180 and go right back into the bedroom, and into the closet. I grab a light jacket, slipping it onto my arms and walk back out in the bedroom.

And there he is, wide awake.

"Where are you going?" he asks. Well, at least he's paying a little bit of attention this morning. A nervous feeling grows in the pit of my stomach. Maybe I should just tell him that I'm going out to get some breakfast? But then I'd consider myself a chicken for the rest of my life. I should just tell him the truth; I'd want someone else to do the same.

"Well," I start, looking at his sleepy figure, "I'm leaving," I finish.

"Obviously, but where are you going?" Okay, maybe that wasn't clear enough.

"I'm not sure where I'm going but I know that I'll never be back," and with that, I walk out of the bedroom, going into the living room and grabbing the handle of my suitcase. It isn't long before I hear his feet thumping against the floor as he comes into the living room behind me. I turn my body around, keeping the suitcase in my hand, and look at his disheveled body. He's in his usual sleep wear; boxers, and his blondish brown hair is in a mess all over his head.

"What do you mean you'll never be back?" he questions, an unbelieving look on his face.

"Exactly what it sounds like. We're not a couple anymore, and my being here is useless. I'm tired of being in a relationship but not really being in a relationship, it's a waste of life," I say, rolling my suitcase behind me as I walk to the door.

"You shouldn't do this Miley, this is a big mistake!" he yells, coming over to me and grabbing hold of my wrist. I wriggle out of his grasp.

"This isn't a mistake, this decision is going to allow me to move on with life, instead of sitting here letting life pass me by," I'm very proud of the way my voice is holding up. There hasn't been a crack yet.

"And how are you going to move on with life, huh? Find another boyfriend? Nobody else is going to be willing to give you everything you want life I do," I roll my eyes.

"All you give me is material things, and yes they're nice and I appreciate it, but I want more than that, I want a loving boyfriend who actually talks to me about his day when he comes home from work," I spit out, the hatred that is just now starting to grow inside of me toward him coming out in my eyes.

"Well sorry that I actually work for a living and that I'm tired when I come home!" his voice gets slightly higher, his eyes widening. I snicker, rolling my eyes.

"Even on your days off you have something else to do, if you were this oh so great boyfriend that you boast about then you would, at least, be able to make time for me on your days off!" I yell back.

"Whatever Miley, if you want to leave and throw everything that we've come to be away then that's fine, I'm not stopping you. But, don't you dare call me up when you realize that you've made a huge mistake with your life and want to come crawling back to me, because I'm not going to be waiting on you to realize that you should have stayed!" he yells, backing away from slightly. His face is now red, and I can only imagine what mine looks like.

"Good," I say, turning the knob on the door, then I look back at him suddenly, "I'll call you whenever I realize that I've made a great decision and my life is finally moving forward instead of sticking in the same spot that it's been in for the past five months," and with that I walk out the door, slamming the door behind me. God, please let me be choosing the right way. I'm begging you.

I lug my suitcase behind me all the way down five flights of stairs, breathing heavily when I reach ground level. It doesn't take long for me to spot my car, instantly walking toward it. I sling the back door open, shoving my very large suitcase into the seat. Then I walk around to the driver's side and get comfortable, sticking the key into the ignition. I turn the key, listening as my car roars to life, and back up out of my parking spot. Then I rid of the little sticker, that's been clinging onto my windshield for so long saying that I can park in this parking lot. I'll no longer need it.

Slowly, I pull out of the parking lot altogether. I look back for only a second at the large apartment building, then turn my eyes onto the road, prepared to stop at the gas station that's only a few blocks away from here.

It takes me ten minutes to reach the gas station; I park my car near a pump and quickly fill my car up with gas, afterwards sliding my card in the correct slot. Whenever my card is returned back into my hand I walk into the small building, looking around for something to buy.

I pick up a small bag of chex mix, and find a very cold bottle of water that will satisfy my thirst for some while on my trip. Then I walk up to the counter, sitting the items down.

"Is this all for you?" the lady behind the counter asks, but before I can nod my head a clear container above the counter catches my eye.

"Um, no, actually I'll take one pack of Marlboro's," I say, not even thinking about what I'm doing. I never smoke, what makes me think that I'm going to want to do it now? The lady nods and grabs a pack from up above her, scanning in all the items. The price pulls up and I hand her my credit card. She swipes it, then hands it back. I pick up all my items and rush back out to my car. I don't know why, but I'm in a huge hurry to just get out of this town and into another.

I throw all my newly bought items into the passenger's seat and pull out of the gas station, and back out onto the main road.

I don't drive long before I'm reaching for the cigarettes, curious as to what they'll do to me. Some people say that they can relax you, get your mind off of other things. And that's exactly what I'm looking for right now. Keeping my eyes on the road, I reach over with one hand and skillfully open the pack, pull a single stick out of the pack. Then I open the console, reaching in and searching until I find the lighter that my mom left in here ages ago. I stick the cigarette into my mouth and light it up with the lighter.

A cough erupts from the lungs and the smoke fills the car. Obviously, smoking is new to me. I crack the window and try again, this time only a small cough comes from my mouth. Then as I continue to smoke the cigarette, the coughs become less and it seems as if I've been smoking my entire life.

It's a bad habit to start, I've heard it all before, but I need something to practice to take up to keep my mind off the idea of possibly making a big mistake.

**A/n: **So, it's not THAT much longer, but it's a tad bit longer.  
I was pretty pleased with the reviews on the first chapter, but honestly I'm hoping for more this time:)  
So, go for it! Tell me what you think.


	3. Chapter 3

My surroundings are bare. Literally. All I can see for miles on end to my right and to my left is land, lots and lots of land. And according to the sign that I just passed moments ago, I won't be seeing anything but land for the next fifty some miles. Which is just my luck because I'm running low on gas and when I say low, I mean _low_.

The sun is starting to set now, and although the sight of the orange glow it's letting off would look brilliant inside a picture frame, the tinted color is putting me to sleep. Which, as everyone knows, is not good when you're driving.

And that's when my check engine light glowed. Exactly what I need.

I reach over to the passenger's seat and take out my last cigarette. Evidently, I'm a hardcore smoker at heart, I just never knew until I tried. I place the stick into the insides of my lips and instantly light it, then I roll down the window, so that the excess smoke will have a place to stream out of. Then I reach up toward the radio's knobs, twisting and turning until some random station comes in, and I don't even bother trying to change it because it's playing some country crap that I never, ever listen to, because as I discovered earlier, that's the only thing that will pick up around here.

It doesn't take me as long as I thought it would to reach my destination, aka the next town that I could find; Hendersonville, Tennessee. A little town eighteen miles northeast of Nashville. And it takes me no time flat to find a gas station, it doesn't look like it's in the best of shape but it's a gas station with people and that's exactly what I need right now.

I park my car next to a gas pump, pushing the nozzle into the gas tank of my car and wait patiently for it to fill up. Once it's done I replace the nozzle into its rightful place, shut the flap on my car and make my way inside.

Instantly, I feel out of place. People are wearing worn out jeans and t-shirts while I'm standing the doorway with my white camisole and high-waisted black skirt on. Great. I walk awkwardly up to the counter, feeling everyone's eyes glaring right through me, and smile as warmly as I can in a situation like this at the old man.

"Hi, um, I was wondering where the nearest shop is that I can get my car checked out at," I explain, taking out my wallet as I search for the rightful amount of money to pay him for my gas.

"Well, sweetheart, there's only one place to do that around here and I'm sorry to tell ya but he shut down for the day about two hours ago," he replies. Immediately my smile deflates, and my shoulders sag. This is just wonderful.

"Okay, well, thank you anyway," I reply, handing him a twenty and ten to cover my costs. Then I walk out, hopping right back into my car. I push the key into the ignition and get back out onto the road, searching around for some hotel that I can put myself away for the night.

Fortunately, there was a motel right down the road from the gas station, with vacancy. I pull into the very empty parking lot, getting out of my car, and grabbing all my belongings before heading into the lobby. Behind the front desk was a young looking girl reading a book. She looks up when she hears me coming with a bright smile on her face.

"Hi, welcome to Hendersonville Motel," her southern twang courses through her voice as she says every word. I watch as she lays the book down, and turns toward me. "Would you like a room?" she asks. I can't help but smile back.

"Yeah, for one night," I reply back, looking around.

"Just for one night?" she asks, "Are you planning on heading somewheres else tomorrow?" she continues asking another question, looking up at me as if we've been best friends all our lives.

"Maybe, I'm not quite sure where I'm headed yet," I tell her, a light sigh escaping from my lips.

"Oh, well I recommend staying here in Hendersonville, it might be small here but it's a nice town. It's good to know that everyone's your friend, that's why I love it here," she explains, moving her arms around and around with every word.

"I'll let you know what I think about it before I leave," I say, she nods wildly.

"That's great," she giggles, "I can't wait to hear what you've got to say bout it," she giggles again, shrugging her shoulders. Then she looks down at the notebook, "Oh, I'm sorry, let me just give you a room key," she says, opening the drawer underneath the desk and pulling out a random key. "Here ya go," she hands me the key; I take it in my hand. "Room 110, Have a good stay," she says, showing off her pearly whites once again.

I walk around the bottom floor of the motel until I find my room, unlocking the door and slinging my stuff in behind me. I shut the door, and flip on the light switch, taking my time to look around the room.

The comforter is printed with a dull yellow and green pattern. The walls are the same dull yellow color, with an occasional stain. The carpet is a faded red and hard. The television is one of the biggest I've ever seen. The dresser drawers are missing some knobs. And the mirror is cracked. Just wonderful.

I flop down on the bed, not even bothering to check and see if it's clean. Ever since I made this big grand decision, things have gone downhill. I started smoking, my car has something wrong with it, and this motel is nasty. This is nowhere near what I planned for my leave to be like. I thought I was going to be happy to be free from the long nights of silence and a bad relationship, but instead I'm figuring out that leaving is easier than having to deal with being gone. Maybe I should just turn back around in the morning and head North again, because I'm not quite sure if I can handle this place much longer.

Finally I decide that I need to focus on something else, get positive. I roll over, spotting the chunky remote on the nightstand. I grasp it in my hand and roll once again, landing on my back. My finger grazes over the power button and I scrunch my eyebrows together as I listen to the loud noise of the television roaring to life. Then, without further ado, I am looking a screen filled with snow, an obnoxious fizzling sound blaring throughout the room. Quickly, I turn the TV off, throwing the remote at the wall.

I curl up into a fetal position, not having the will power to get underneath the covers, and close my eyes. Without even trying to hold it back, a tear slips from the corner of my eye.

**A/n:** Nick comes in next chapter:)  
& my competition is this Sunday! I'm excited.  
I'm hoping we'll get some more snow days this week so I can get another chapter wrote. :)


	4. Chapter 4

**New Habits  
Four.**

The sun glares through the room, hitting me right in the face. A groan makes its way out my mouth and into the empty air; I roll over to look at the window. Sure enough, the curtains aren't even remotely close to being shut. I really should have thought about closing them before I fell asleep last night.

Without further ado I roll out of the bed, letting my feet hit the hard floor. I wipe at my eyes furiously, not willing them to get any more irritated by the nasty gunk filling the corners; that's what I get for leaving my makeup on all night. I stroll over to the bathroom, preparing myself for what it's going to look like.

And it's a good thing I prepared myself.

I do my best to ignore the nasty goo on the mirror as I wash my face off, not even looking at the towel as I dry it off. It's better to just not know. I strip out of my clothes and get into the shower, opening my eyes long enough to twist the knob, then shutting them back once again. I manage to take my shower in ten minutes, only opening my eyes three times. As soon as I'm done I step out of the shower, wrapping a towel around my body. Then I walk back into the bedroom area, willing my eyes to open for good.

Once I've made it over to the window, that's still wide open while I'm standing here in a towel, I pull the curtains close, walking back over to my suitcase. I pull out a pair of dark skinny jeans, a black spaghetti strap v-neck and a pair of sandals with rainbow colored embellishments. Quickly, I throw on the ensemble, checking myself in the mirror to make sure everything's perfect. I brush my hair out and allow it to dry naturally. Then I walk back into the bathroom, grab my dirty belongings and stuff them back into my suitcase, zipping it up once I'm done.

I take the suitcase in one hand, the key to the room in my other hand. Double checking to make sure I'm prepared to leave I roam around the room looking for anything that's mine. Luckily, I didn't forget to pack any of my few items and I'm out the door within a minute, practically running to the front desk so that I can return the key.

Once I'm to the lobby, if you can even call it that, I walk up to the front desk. I sit my suitcase down beside me and lay the key down on the dull white countertop. Then I slowly look up at the same bubbly girl sitting behind the counter that was here yesterday. Her lips turn upward into a large smile as she sees that it's me.

"Hey," she greets me, her eyes going wide as well, "Did you enjoy your stay?" she asks, looking up at me expectedly. I bite down on my lip, slowly nodding my head. I'm don't want to lie, but seriously, what am I supposed to say? No, this motel is a piece of crap and I wish I could burn it to the ground. Yeah, I'm going to do that right now…

"Awesome," she squeals, and I thought her high-pitched voice couldn't get any higher. Boy, was I wrong. She takes the key from the counter and places it back into the drawer underneath her desk, opening up her notebook and writing some stuff down. Then she looks back up at me, "It'll be fifty-five dollars," she informs me. Well, at least it wasn't costing me a fortune to stay in this dump. I pull the money out from my purse and hand it to her.

"Do you happen to know where the nearest mechanic is?" I ask her, remembering that I have to get my car checked on.

"Yeah, here I'll give you directions," she says, flipping to a clean page in her notebook and quickly writing down the directions to my next destination. Once she's finished writing everything down she hands me the piece of paper.

"Thanks," I say, checking over the writing to make sure that I understand everything before I head out and get completely lost, not that I think it's possible to get lost in this little town. I bend down and get a grip on my suitcase, standing back up, preparing myself to leave. I start to turn around by abruptly look back when I hear the girl talking to me.

"I know this place doesn't look like a lot, but I promise that Hendersonville is one of the greatest places you'll ever visit," she says, her wide smile never faltering. I smile back at her weakly, starting to turn around.

"We'll see about that," I say, walking swiftly to the door and straight into the parking lot. I walk over to my car and stuff my suitcase back in its rightful spot for the time being; the back seat. Then I walk around the vehicle and make myself comfortable in the driver's seat. I start up the car and pull out of the tiny parking lot, getting back out on the road and looking at my directions every now and then to make sure I'm on the right track.

I sigh in relief when I pull up to the mechanical shop, thankful that at least something is going right for me. I drag myself out of the car, and head inside, standing in front of the counter as I wait for someone to ask me what I need.

But, no one comes up to desk, for the entire fifteen minutes that I've stood here. I bite down furiously on my lip, looking around for some kind of service bell that I can ring to get someone to pay attention so that I can get on with whatever I'm going to do next. But surprise, surprise, there's no bell to ring.

I'm about to blow a fuse when a girl walks into the shop, stopping whenever she sees me and looking over my attire. "You're not from here," she states the obvious, continuing her walk over to me, "He doesn't come out here until he's finished with whatever's back in the garage, normally people just walk on back through to the garage," she says, motioning toward a pale door that obviously leads to the garage.

"Thanks," I say, turning on my heel and walking back to the door, making my way inside the brightly lit, very cold garage. A bust of laughter is heard and I follow the noise, walking right up to a group of five guys. I stand there for a second but when it's obvious that none of them have noticed I've walked up, I clear my throat. They immediately quit laughing and turn toward me.

A whistle echoes through the large room and I pucker my lips, all I need is some grease monkey hitting on me. But, obviously one of them notices my sour look and pushes past the group.

"Okay guys, that's enough, you don't need to act like idiots just because you see a pretty girl," he says, walking up to me. He's definitely not a person that I would peg for a 'grease monkey'; actually I wouldn't even peg him for someone that would live in this little town. He's gorgeous, and that's me being modest. "So, what can I help you with?" he asks.

"My car just needs to be checked out, the check engine light came on when I was driving down here," I inform him.

"Lead the way," he says, motioning toward the door that I just came through moments before. I walk back through it, him following me into the parking lot. We reach my car and I lightly tap it's hood, letting him know that it's my car.

He nods slightly, sliding into the driver's seat. I hand him my keys, and he lights up the engine, shutting it off again after only a few seconds. I guess he wants to make sure that I'm telling the truth, and that I didn't just come to the shop to make googly eyes at the oh-so-gorgeous mechanics.

"Alright, I'll be able to check on it. I've got two other cars already in the garage right now, I should be done with them within five hours, and then it'll probably take me about half an hour to fix your car, so if you wanna go do something while you're waiting, that's fine, I'll just park it back out in the front when I'm done with it," he tells me and I can't help but let my mouth fall open. Five and a half hours?

"What do you expect me to do for five and a half hours? That's the only car I have, there's nowhere for me to go, there's nothing for me to do. It's only going to take an hour and a half to fix my car, why can't you just fix it right now?" I say, frustrated and just wanting to pull multiple hairs out of my head.

He chuckles lightly, placing his hands on his hips, I really don't find anything about this situation funny though, "Well, there's a little diner over there," he points to his left, "Or you could always come back in the garage and hang out with us guys," he says, a slight smirk on his lips.

"Listen here," I search his uniform for a name, but there's not a name tag to be found.

"It's Nick," he informs me, that same smirk still staring at me without faltering.

"Listen here Nick, I'm willing to pay you extra money if you'll just take my car on in, as much as you want me to pay extra! I don't care, I just really need to get out of here," I whine, knowing that I sound like a teenager, but I really don't know how much longer I can take of this.

He chuckles, again. "Ma'am, I'd love to help you out and do that favor for you but the people who brought their cars in before you and are now sitting in the garage, have been waiting on their cars to be fixed for days now, considering I'm the only mechanic in town. I'm sorry, but you're just going to have to wait a while," he says, turning around and walking toward the entrance to get back to his work.

"Well, don't be expecting any kind of tip, or anything!" I yell, watching his body shake with laughter as the door slams behind him.

I sigh, what am I going to do for the next five and a half hours?

**A/n:** So, I hope you all like Nick's character so far.  
To be honest, I'm not really liking the amount of reviews I've gotten so far. But, I'm not going to let it get me down or anything. But, **special** thanks to those who have reviewed!  
Question, if you all read this answer in a review; Do you want me to reply back to reviews? I think it might bother some people, and I only do it because I think people that take time to review should be given my thanks. But, just let me know if you don't really like it. I'm just kinda curious :)


	5. Chapter 5

**New Habits  
Five.**

Picking up the fork that some worker gave me to use to eat, I twirl it around in my fingers, watching the metal closely so that I can see my reflection every time the fork moves past my face. I'd taken that mechanic, Nick's advice on going to the diner across the street. By the look of it, I thought the food was going to be disastrous and was happy to find out that the prices for any meal weren't over seven dollars, but once I received my order of a plain cheeseburger and salad I quickly changed my mind. Maybe I should start thinking about that saying, never judge a book by its cover.

But now, I've finished my food, and even though I ate as slow as possible, I still have three and a half more hours until my car is supposed to be ready. And there's no possible way that I'm going to be able to sit here for that long. I let the fork fall from my fingers, making a loud clinking noise when it comes in contact with the plate. I lay my head in my hand, and look through the window, watching as two or three cars pass by on the road.

Sighing, I avert my gaze from the window and pull my phone out of my pocket. Maybe the glorious work of Apple can keep me busy…

I click my phone on, sliding my finger across the screen to unlock it. My heart drops when I look up at the top of the screen and see that there's no service here, quickly I check my settings and look for Wi-Fi… nothing. I'm flat out of luck. A sigh, louder than the last, burst through my lips and I put my phone back into my pocket, it's useless here.

A waitress approaches me, the same girl that's delivered everything to me while I've been here, and points toward my empty plate, "Can I take that for ya?" she asks, and I smile at her politely, nodding my head as I slightly push my plate toward her. She picks it up and swiftly walks away.

Moments later she returns with a slip of paper in hand, she lays it down on the table in front of me then walks away once again. I pick up the paper and check out the amount of money that I owe to the diner, six dollars and fifty-two cents. Not bad, at all. I get up from my seat, obviously them handing me a check is the sign that I need to scoot myself on out the door. I walk up to the front, approach the cash register with a smile on my face. I hand the same girl the piece of paper back and she quickly punches in a couple buttons on the machine.

"Six dollars and fifty-two cents," she informs me, even though I already know. I hand her a ten dollar bill and she counts out my change, handing it back to me delicately. I stuff it back into my purse and turn on my heel, walking on out of the diner.

But, once I'm outside I have no idea where I'm headed to. I turn to my left, and an idea forms inside my head, I walk toward the mechanic shop. As I'm walking through the door to the garage I start to get just a tad bit nervous, maybe I shouldn't be back here where all these cars are being worked on. But, then I remember Nick telling me that I could come on over and hang out with them. Of course, I'm almost positive he was joking, but I'm inclined to taking his idea seriously.

The atmosphere in the garage has changed drastically since the last time I was in here, which was only a few hours ago. Instead of all the laughing and talking with guys bunched up in a group there's only the sound of metal clinking against metal, each guy working separately in different areas.

I float around the oh-so-serious garage, searching for Nick. Once I spot him I slowly walk over, approaching quietly.

"Hello there Miley," he says, not coming out from under the car he's working on. I slump my shoulders.

"How'd you know I was here?" I ask, wanting to make my appearance a surprise.

"There's no one that lives in this town that would wear shoes like those," he informs me, did he just insult my shoes? I look down at the leather embellished sandals.

"For your information, these shoes are Jimmy Choo's and anyone in this town would kill for them," I let him know, placing my hips firmly on my hips, sticking a knee out. He slides out from under the car, his infamous smirk across his lips.

"I never said I didn't like your shoes Miley, I just said no one in this town wears shoes like those," he says, getting up from off the floor.

"Oh, okay," I say, looking down. I can feel the red rising on my cheeks; I seriously need to work on how I interpret people's words. I bite down on my lip and slowly look back up at him. He's dusting off his hands on his work suit, his face all marked up with grease. "You need to bathe," I say, without even thinking about it. Quickly, I slip my hand over my mouth, the blush continuing to darken.

He just laughs, "I usually do that once I get off work," he tells me, throwing a wink my way. Right, because if he bathed now, there'd be no point with all the other work to be done… Geez, not only do I need to work on my interpretation but also thinking before I speak.

"Just kidding," I force a laugh, biting down on my lip even harder than before.

"Right," he says, a sarcastic tone layering throughout his voice. I turn around to see what he's doing, "So, what gave you the need to come over here and disrupt my work?" he asks, turning around also, facing me. At first I freak out just a little, but then I see that smirk and all my worries float away.

"I spent as long as I could in the diner, then remembered that you told me that I could always come hang out with you here while I waited on my car," I say, playing with the hem of my shirt. He nods his head, grabbing a wrench and wiping it off.

"I did say that, didn't I?" he questions, a small smile breaking through his lips.

"Maybe you should start thinking before you offer someone an opportunity to hang out with you in this… lovely place," I laugh, raising my eyebrows ever so slightly.

"I should, you're definitely right," he says, turning back around to grab another tool. My mouth flies open, as I walk over to him.

"Excuse you, but I think that I'm a very entertaining person," I tell him, knowing that this is all a joke makes it all the funnier.

"I know, I can see that Miley, it's just…" he looks down, "those shoes… they're so," he looks back up at me again, "there aren't even words to describe those shoes," he says. My mouth flies open again and I lightly smack him with my hand.

Two hours later and we're still throwing remarks from every direction, and needless to say my shoes have come up more than just twice in the time that has passed.

I watch as he steps back into my car, turning the ignition on. "It's all fixed," he tells me, "I just need to do a couple papers then I'll meet you out front with your precious car, okay?" he tells me, getting back out of the car to grab the papers he needs.

"It better not take very long!" I tell him, a serious expression taking over my face. He rolls his eyes playfully and starts writing on a piece of paper. I make my way out of the garage, lounging at the counter until I see him pull my car into the exact spot it was sitting in when I left it. I walk outside, just in time for him to step out of my car.

"Did I take too long?" he asks, his smirk appearing once again. But, I'm used to his smirk now.

"Not long at all," I say, moving around him to get into my car. And truth is, after I spent those few hours in the diner, the time just flew by. I could stand for being here another five if it were possible. He stands there, blocking my way to get into the vehicle.

"I had a good time today," he tells me, a small smile appears on my face.

"Me too," I reply, that small blush filling my cheeks.

"I hope I'll see you soon," he says, stepping around me, allowing me to slip into my car. He doesn't look back at me, just straight into the shop. I bite down on my lip, watching as his body disappears behind the garage door.

Shaking my head, I turn the ignition on and sling my purse into the passenger's side seat, something catching my eye when I do so. I reach over, picking up the small slip of paper, an instant smile forming on my lips as I read the words.

I've thought this offer over, meet me at the diner tomorrow at 6?  
I'll be waiting.  
-Nick

Not another thought crosses through my mind, and in a few minutes I find myself in the parking lot of the motel, ready to check myself back in for another night.

**A/n: **so, I really like this chapter. & I really hope you guys do too.  
Thanks SO much for all the reviews on the last chapter, I got a bunch and it made me feel ten times better about this story. :)


	6. Chapter 6

**New Habits  
Six.**

Surprisingly, it wasn't that hard to figure out what I wanted to wear to the date with Nick. Of course, that could do something with the limited amount of clothes that I have packed inside my suitcase. But as soon as I pulled out my favorite navy blue, embellished cardigan it was easy to find a simple camisole to put on underneath it and a dark pair of skinny jeans to match. The shoes… that was the hard part. I thought about wearing my Jimmy Choo's, just for a quick laugh but they didn't match my outfit so I had to dig until I found my dressy white flip flops. And then, my outfit was complete when I shouldered my purse.

I take a minute to examine my outfit in the cracked mirror hanging next to the bathroom, making sure that every last detail of my outfit is perfect. When I'm completely satisfied, I nod my head and head out of my hotel room, having to pass by the lobby. When I enter into the small lobby, the teenager stops me.

"Wow, where are you going looking so nice?" she asks, a light whistle blowing from her lips afterwards. I smile brightly, turning around on my heel to look at her.

"On a date," I tell her, my smile growing ever so slightly. Her eyebrow raises and she sits up in her seat.

"With who?" she asks, I roll my eyes and place my hand on my hip.

"Are you always this nosy?" I ask her.

"Mmhm," she mumbles in reply.

"His name is Nick, he works at the car shop," and that's all I had to say to get her tongue rattling.

"Nick Grey," she grins, "and he doesn't just work at that car shop, he's the owner. He's only ever had one other girlfriend, but they broke up when she decided to move to Texas for some high school sweetheart or something like that. He's been pretty down in the dumps since then, but I'm guessing you're going to be his knight in shining armor, the girl version. But, just know that from what I saw of his past relationship, he's really sweet and is one of those rare men that knows how to treat a lady, he's a keeper. Marriage material," she tells me.

I laugh slightly, "It's only a first date, I'm not exactly thinking about marriage," I reply, I mean, I can already tell that he's a good guy, but marriage? That's the stuff you start thinking about when you're out on your one year anniversary date or something, not your first date.

She shrugs her shoulders, "I'd be thinking about marriage before our first date if I were in your position, he's the IT guy around here. The boy everyone wants to marry, you just pop up in this tiny town one day and you've already got a date with the boy that's been turning down people like cow's being slaughtered. He obviously thinks you're something pretty special to have just met you and invited you on a date, marriage should definitely be on your mind," she says.

My eyes widen a tiny bit, everything about what she's saying is making me ten times more nervous. "Okay," I drag out, "I'm going to leave now, or else I'm going to be late for my date, see you later," I give her a small wave and walk quickly out of the lobby.

I'm about to go on a date with a boy that's super sweet, and evidently is heartbroken from a past relationship. At least he's kind of in the same boat…

I pull up to the diner, claiming my parking spot before turning my vehicle off and getting out of it. I take a deep breath, smoothing down my clothes before looking through the open windows of the diner. I spot him sitting at a table, his back to me. His mess of curls and a nice plaid shirt is all that I can see. One last deep breath and I head inside the diner, listening as the bell chimes, then watching as his head turns to the door, a small smile taking over his lips. I smile, and walk over to him while he's getting up from his seat.

"Hey," he greets, and what sounds like a sigh of relief releases itself from his mouth.

"Hey," I reply, slightly biting on the inside of my lip. He walks around the table and takes out my seat for me; I sit down, placing my purse carefully beside my seat. He returns to his seat, keeping his hands on the table. Immediately a waitress walks up to the table and takes our order. I order the same thing I ordered yesterday, being the person I am and not liking to risk trying something different in case it doesn't taste very good. When the waiter leaves the table, Nick turns toward me, that playful smirk playing on his face.

But, just when I think he's going to throw some snarky comment my way, he smiles softly, "Thanks for coming tonight, I was afraid you wouldn't show," he admits, and I can't help but smile. I've known this guy for only a day and he's already showing his soft side.

"I wouldn't have missed it for the world," I say, thinking about what I just said after I said it. Maybe I went a little over board, because, as I said before, I have only known him for a day.

"Good," he replies, then he looks beside the table, glancing at something, and when he speaks to me again, I know exactly what he was looking at. "So, those shoes you've got on? Would everyone in this town kill for them too?" he asks, that smirk coming back.

"As a matter of fact, they would. My entire shoe collection is to kill for," I inform him, sounding a bit sarcastic, but in all reality, my shoe collection really is a pretty spectacular sight, even though I left half of it back in the city.

His eyebrow lifts up, giving me a questioning look, then he looks back down at my feet, studying my shoes. "Those are just flip flops; please tell me how they're so special?" I lick my bottom lip slightly, giggling a tiny bit as I look down at the designer flip flops.

"They're Valentino, a designer brand, and though my shoes are simply flip flops, the very fashionable bow gives the flip flop a whole new meaning, making my flip flops much classier," I tell him, a satisfied look adorning my face, I did just give a very wonderful classification of my shoes.

He chuckles slightly, obviously trying to hold it in, then smiles at me, "Right, whatever you say," he says.

I roll my eyes, "You just don't know shoes," I say.

He mocks offended, "How dare you say that! I'm happy to announce that I own two pairs of Justin's, one pair of Converse, and some dress shoes," he says, his smirk still there.

"Oh, I'm so so sorry, owning four pairs of shoes means you're an expert!" I exclaim, the sarcasm lacing through my voice. He crosses his arms in front of him, leaning back slightly in a chair, taking a 'cool' pose.

"That's what I thought," he says, just in time for the waitress to walk up to our table, food in her hands. She sets down the plates in front of each of us, managing to get everything right. Nick and I both say a quick thank you before she continues on to another table.

We talk while eating, a thing that I rarely like to do, but for some reason, talking to Nick while eating didn't bother me nearly as much as it does with other people. When we're done eating he politely pays for my meal, and we exit the diner. He walks me to my vehicle, standing in front of the door so that I can't get in.

"I had a good time," he tells me.

"I had a good time, too," I say, clasping my hands in front of me.

"Where are you staying?" he asks me abruptly.

"The motel," I inform him, thinking nothing of it.

"That place is a mess," he says, looking down, obviously nervous, "Look, I know I've only known you for some time now but I'm all about hospitality and I have a guest room in my house, and I'd really like it if you would stay there while you're here," he looks back up, the nervousness still showing.

"I couldn't intrude," I try, really not wanting to bother him.

"I knew you'd say that," he tells me, "but, I'm prepared to win this. I'm a wealthy man, and I'm not bragging, it's just a fact. And I don't like knowing that someone's having to stay at that motel. I've been to that place, and I know exactly what it looks like on the inside, and I know very well that you don't like living in a place with broken mirrors and nasty bathtubs, am I right?" he questions.

And, I can't lie. I'm a terrible liar, "You're right," I say.

"Exactly, I have the money to pay for an extra person to stay at my home for free, and I'll allow you to do that, but if you would feel better paying rent then I'll allow you to do that too. But, Miley, the main reason I want you to stay in my guest room is I know that you're more likely to stick around longer if I let you live in a nice home rather than some junky motel, and the longer you stay, the more time I'll have to convince you to stay longer, because you seem like a nice girl, and I'd sure like a good chance to possibly getting to know you better," he says, and immediately my heart drops. This is exactly what I wanted from my past relationship, some charming words and a person that cares. This is exactly what I want.

"Um, well, I guess when you put it that way, then sure, I'll stay in your guest room, but I'm going to be paying that rent," I tell him.

"That's fine by me," he says as he smiles at me, pulling my door open to let me sit down in the seat. "I'll drive to the motel to help you with your stuff, and then you can follow me to my home," he says. I smile brightly, nodding my head as he softly shuts the door, walking over to his own vehicle.

**A/n: **More than likely I won't be able to update next weekend, because I'll be headed to state competition:) so, enjoy this for about two weeks and then I shall return.


	7. Chapter 7

**New Habits  
Seven.**

The smile on my face just won't seem to fade even the tiniest bit on my drive back to the motel, which I'm thinking might be from the idea that I know the lights following behind me are Nick's. I just can't quite get over how wonderful he is. He's got that 'southern charm' and hospitality; I guess is what everyone would say. Just yesterday I was ready to up and run from this place and now I'm planning on living in a man's guest room, which should seem creepy, but Nick's the type of guy that you don't even question his reasons, you just know that he's doing it from the good of his heart… even I'm believing it and I've only know him for a little over twenty-four hours.

I spot the motel, and turn on my signal, turning and placing my vehicle in the exact same spot I've parked every time I've come to this place. Because, well, that parking lot's always empty so I'm always guaranteed my spot. While I'm shutting off the engine, Nick pulls his truck beside my car, shutting it off as well. We both get out and he walks around to where I am, walking beside me as I guide him to my room.

I open the door and flip the lights on right before slipping inside the room and heading over to my suitcase. Nick stays at the doorway and whistles loudly.

"This room looks ten times worse than the one I saw a few months ago, no wonder you were so willing to come stay at my place," he says, with that smirk.

"I can still stay here, I haven't given my room up yet," I say, curving an eyebrow upward. He laughs lightly, shutting the door and walking over to where I'm standing.

"But you've already promised me you'll come stay at my home, and you don't peg me as someone to not do what they've already said they would do," he explains, mocking my expression with an upraised eyebrow. I roll my eyes playfully and start throwing what clothes are laying out back into my suitcase. He chuckles lightly, picking up an article of clothing and placing it neatly into my suitcase.

Considering I've only changed twice in this motel room it doesn't take us very long to pack up my belongings and lug them out to my car, which Nick politely did all by himself, refusing to let me work a muscle more than what it took to walk out to my vehicle.

We climb back in to our respected vehicles and he pulls out first, making sure I'm behind him before carrying on. He drives at a decent pace so that I don't get lost between him and other cars, not that there are any cars that could get between us.

Ten minutes or so I realize that he's leading us out of the main part of town, I watch carefully as his blinker flashes wildly and he takes a left turn into what seems like the forest. I slow down majorly, letting him go on just a little bit so that I can peek and see the road. Sure enough, there's one there. A tiny, graveled road. My car is going to hate me for driving down this road.

I take the turn and follow suit behind Nick once again, as we crawl inch by inch up the drive way. From the distance I can see the roof of a house peeking out and I bite down on my lip, a tiny inch of fear climbing through my body. What if his house is worse than the motel? I've never saw what a country man's house looks like before. What if it's like in the movies? A little shack house? Do shack house's have enough room for a guest room? I continue to question myself and what I'm coming upon until I'm there. And I should have never questioned myself.

The house is nice, very nice. At least a three story house, white paneling, with a porch decorated with two rocking chairs. Then off to the side there's a small garage, big enough for two vehicles to be placed inside. I park beside him in the gravel area, shutting my car off, I climb out. I walk around to see Nick opening my car door and pulling luggage out, obviously not wanting me to work my muscles now either.

I walk beside him up to the porch and as he's pulling his keys out and fiddling with the lock to get it open, he turns his head toward me. "I know the rocking chairs may seem a little gay or whatnot and the rest of my house may seem that way to you too, please keep in mind that my mother controls my life and all the decorating was her," he informs me. I smile, definitely intrigued with what his house was going to look like on the inside. I nod slightly and he finally gets the door open, pulling in the luggage as he goes inside. I follow behind him, ready for the possibility of roosters or pink walls, anything that would suggest femininity.

"Wow," I breath out, never imagining that the inside of a country home could look so… well, modern. From the flat screen TV to the very clean white couch, from my view point of standing in the living room, I could really get to liking this house.

"If you're wondering why everything's so clean it's because I'm not here a lot and when I am I'm either outside doing some hunting or upstairs in my bedroom," he says, and that would explain the spotless white rug spreading out on the floor of the living room.

"If you want I can give you a small tour to welcome you here, it won't take very long, I promise," he says, pulling the luggage onto the white rug and letting it sit there. I nod my head.

"Sure, I'd like that," I tell him. He motions with his hand for me to follow him and I do just that. From the living room he takes me to the kitchen, which is connected to the living room very conveniently with a wide open walk way. It's your everyday kitchen, stove, sink, refrigerator. Within the kitchen is the dining area, a wooded table surrounded by two benches and a couple chairs. All around on the walls are random antique items that would have once been found in the kitchen.

After the kitchen he takes me back through the living room and up the stairs, we turn right and he opens a dark wooded door, taking me into what I can only think is his bedroom. The bedding is black, and all around there are different wall hangings, and then the one hanging that everyone expects to see hanging somewhere in the house of a country man is there, staring straight back at me. It's the head of a deer, and I can't help but squeal and jump in shock when I see the thing.

He laughs, acting as if the fact that I nearly just had a heart attack is funny. I glare at him and he stops, pointing toward the deer head. "I'm not really into mounting the deer I kill, but that was my first deer and I just couldn't resist, I think he's quite the charmer, don't you?" he asks, a sarcastic glaze taking over his face as he rubs the deer's fur… or hair… or whatever.

"Yeah, he's a real cutie," I say, a snarl working its way to my lips. I turn away from the deer head, "I'm ready for the next room," I tell him, hoping to never see that deer again. He nods in understanding and leads me out of the room and down the hallway, pointing toward a door along the way.

"That's the bathroom, I don't think I need to take you inside," he says, continuing his walk. Once we've made it to the other end of the hallway there's another door, and he allows me to go in first. "This would be the room that you will be staying in, courtesy of my mother, of course," he says.

I take a quick look around; the bedding is a floral print, with bright colors. There are several paintings strung up on the walls, all of them black and white with different photography. The dresser has a couple pictures propped up on it, and a mirror behind it. There's a small white vanity in the corner, mother's always think of the women. A rocking chair similar to the one's on the porch is placed in another corner of the room. And there's a walk in closet opposite of the bed. It's the perfect room for me, a perfect mix of home-y and classy.

"It's yours for however long you wish, do whatever you feel the need to do to it," Nick says, I turn around.

"This is so much better than the motel, thank you so much for letting me stay here," I say, not thinking before I throw my arms around his neck for a hug. When I realize what I've done, for a split second I freak out, then I feel his arms squeeze my waist before letting me go and I know our hug was just a friendly one.

"You're welcome, I'm going to go downstairs and get your luggage, I'm assuming your tired, it's pretty late," I nod my head, just now realizing that he's mentioned it that I am tired. He disappears for a moment and I walk around the room, opening a couple drawers to try and get the feel for it. Then he's back, luggage in hand. He places it on the floor, then goes and stands in the doorway.

"Thanks again, I really do appreciate it," I say, not feeling like I could say thank you enough for his great deal of hospitality.

"No need to keep thanking me, it was my pleasure," he says, a slight nod coming from him as he finishes. "I'm going to head to bed now, I'll see you in the morning," he tells me.

"Goodnight," I say, a tiny smile placed on my lips. He smiles at me.

"Goodnight," he replies, turning around and walking down the long hallway to his room.

I shut the door and open my suitcase, taking out my light pink silk pajama set. I slip the cool material onto my body and make my way over to the bed. I slide under the covers, my head resting on the almost foamy type pillow, curling my body up before dozing off.

**A/n: **We placed fourth at competition, it was pretty exciting:) I'm sorry that I had to delay updating, I've been busy with all the ballgames going on, but they're SUPER close to being over :D.


	8. Chapter 8

**New Habits  
Eight.**

Needless to say, I'm a bit surprised when I'm not awoken by the sound of a rooster crowing but instead by the aroma of some very delicious smelling cooking. I lay there for a few minutes, just letting the whiff of the wonderful cooking fill my nostrils. Once my stomach starts to growl from the smell I know that it's time to get up, I swing my legs into the open and walk over to my suitcase. I take out my outfit for the day, a decked out in blue sequins racer back tank, a pair of blank skinny jeans and a pair of matching blue braided sandals, and then head out into the hallway, making my way into the bathroom.

I take a quick shower, put my clothes on and let my hair fall down, allowing the thick mess to air dry. Then I make my way downstairs, recalling my memory to get into the kitchen. I can't help but smile at the sight before me, a male figure (a very gorgeous one at that) standing in front of the stove, wooden spoon in hand, swirling it around in the mixture.

"You didn't tell me you could cook," I say, causing a slight ripple to run through his body. He laughs off his scare and turns toward me, allowing the spoon to rest on the pan.

"There are many things you don't know about me," he smiles playfully and I laugh lightheartedly. "Have a seat," he directs, pulling a wooden chair away from the table and motioning with his hand toward the cushioned area. I smile politely at him and take a seat, pulling myself toward the table.

A few minutes later Nick places in front of me a plate filled with biscuits, gravy, sausage, ham, eggs… you name it, it's on there. My mouth can't help but water looking down on the delicious looking food. I pick up the fork that was already sitting on the table and jab it into biscuit that's covered in the gravy. Without a second thought as to whether how much fat is contained inside the food I stick it inside my mouth, moaning lightly at the warmth and taste of the food.

Nick laughs and I stop my moaning, looking at him with a glare. "This is really good," I say, forgetting that my mouth is full, which causes my words to come out in a great jumble. My mumbled words only cause him to laugh harder and I can't help myself from blush a light pink color. Quickly, I chew up the food and swallow it. "This is really good," I repeat, this time my words are understandable.

"Thank you," he says, taking a bite of his own food.

"So, do you cook like this every morning?" I ask, curious as to whether this was just a tiny bit of guest hospitality or an everyday thing.

"Not every day, but at least once a week, other days I usually have an omelet or a bowl of cereal for breakfast. Dinner's when I really kick it up a notch," he says, sending a wink in my direction. I smile brightly.

"I can't wait for dinner then," I tell him, wondering what else is up his sleeves.

"I was thinking tonight we could have lasagna, what do you say?" he asks.

"I love lasagna," I announce, now that we're having lasagna for dinner I really can't wait. Lasagna makes everything better.

"Lasagna it is then," he says, picking up his fork and stuffing in another bite of food. I do the same, eager every time I pick up my fork to taste the deliciousness of the breakfast food. Once my mouth is free of the food, I look over at him.

"If you keep this amazing cooking thing up then I might just have to stick around for a while," I say, a slight smirk placed upon my lips.

"In that case, I promise to cook like this every morning and every night," he says, looking right back at me.

"I'm looking forward to it," …and boy am I ever.

After breakfast, Nick announces that he has to leave for work, claiming that if it weren't for him no one's car in this town would ever get fixed. Once he left, I was instantly taken over by boredom. I take it upon myself to wash the dishes, taking up only a small fraction of time that I have left until Nick comes back.

I looked through the newspaper, reading a bunch of news with people's names that I've never heard of in my life. I flipped through the television, but evidently nothing interesting comes on in the middle of the day. I even checked my phone to see if there was wi-fi in the house, and while there was, there was only a certain amount of time that could be taken up with checking my email.

Now, I'm frazzled to come up with an idea of something to do, because just sitting here in this very comfortable recliner all day is not going to make this day a good one. I look around the room, looking for anything that could keep my attention for at least ten minutes, and I spot a door.

The door's just a regular door, wooden like all the others inside the home, but it's a door that Nick didn't give an explanation to on his tour, so of course, I'm curious. I get up out of the recliner, tip toeing over to the door, because even though I'm alone I feel like something behind it is top secret, or something. I gradually turn the knob, slowly opening the door ajar, into a hallway.

Just a hallway, no mystical red rose in a glass case like the Beast, just a hallway. I shrug my shoulders anyway and walk down the hallway. At about midways down the hallway there's another door, and I open it, not bothering to be secretive about it because my hopes of finding a glass slipper have diminished. Inside is a bathroom, decorated in a royal blue striped pattern, nothing too special. I shut the door to its original state and travel further down the hall.

There's only one other door, at the very end of the hallway. When I open the door I'm greeted to stairs, leading down into a basement. Being the very brave and curious woman that I am, I trail down the stairs. The farther I go down, the colder it gets and the more I wish I had brought my jacket with me downstairs. Once I'm to the bottom I flip on the light and discover bright oranges and yellows.

His basement is obviously for his hunting gear. Hanging on the walls are his vests of camouflage and bright colored beanies. I walk on around the room, discovering a very old computer, a very old television set and a pair of boots that I can only assume is a fourth of his collection, and while the boots are nice, they're obviously strictly for the woods, I would hope that no one would wear those things around just for the heck of it.

I sigh, nothing about this room is interesting to me and I'm afraid if I keep wandering around I'll discover another deer head like the one in Nick's room. I shudder at the thought and quickly race back up the stairs, down the hallway and into the living room. I return to my spot on the recliner, and flip the TV on the Maury show.

I fell asleep, and woke up to the sound of the door shutting and Nick walking into the house after work. I literally slept all day long, I really need to find a job, or some friends, or something.

"Did you have fun?" he asks, slipping off his shoes and walking on into the living room.

"Tons," I roll my eyes, "I need to find something to do during the day, any suggestions?" I smile widely, making my face more than likely look like I'm high because my eyes are still droopy from all the sleep I just got.

"You could always come down to the shop and help me fix some cars," he says, raising his eyebrow.

"You're crazy," I say, "Don't you have any girl friends? Or something?" I ask.

"No, I don't have girlfriends I prefer to keep it down to just one at a time," he informs me and I can't help but roll my eyes for a second time, "And I do have a sister, and my sister has many friends that I'm sure she would love to introduce you to," and I start to feel hope.

"Great, when can I meet her?" I ask, because the sooner the better.

"We have family dinner every Friday night at my mom's house, is that soon enough?" he asks, obviously sensing the eagerness that is seeping through the pores all over my body.

"Considering today is Wednesday…" I pretend to think it over for a moment, "I think I can wait until then," I say. He laughs lightly.

"Great, now I need to get started on the lasagna," he announces, making his way into the kitchen. And like a lost puppy, I follow.

**A/n:** I thought I was going to like this chapter, because of Nick making the food and what not, but after the food idea, I didn't have another idea so I just kinda went with it. Turned out to be a disaster. I'm sorry.  
& I'm super sorry for the delay in getting this chapter up. I got sick last week, then I had two essays to write over the weekend. So, sorry sorry sorry!  
I'm just sorry altogether for this chapter.  
Thanks for all the reviews though, I really appreciate it! :)


	9. Chapter 9

**New Habits  
Nine.**

**IMPORTANT A/N at the bottom!**

I'm nervous, beyond nervous. I'm biting my lip so hard I can taste the blood sliding between my teeth. There's absolutely no reason that I should be as nervous as I am, I'm not dating Nick, he's nowhere near my boyfriend, so meeting his family should just be a meeting of multiple strangers. I wish I felt as if this dinner were only a meeting to become friends, instead I'm dressed in my best, complete with teased hair and a pearl necklace, feeling jittery as we pull into the parking lot of Nick's parents home.

"Are you gonna be okay?" he asks, parking the car and looking to his right, right at me. I nod quickly, looking right back at him.

"Absolutely, why?" I try to make my voice as cheery as I possibly can, while mentally trying to push the many thoughts swarming through my brain to disperse and go away for the time being.

"Because you're really pale and you look like you're going to throw up," he replies, placing his hand on my forearm and giving me a very concerned look. Pale is not good, pale will destroy all the effort I took to apply my makeup, pale does not look good for first impressions. I reach for my purse, pulling out my powder and quickly try to brush some on my face. Nick stops me, a slight laugh sliding through his lips. "You look fine, Miley, and I assure you every person inside that house is going to love you," his words are very convincing, and his voice seals the deal, the soothing noise causes my shoulders to loosen up.

When we reach the door I've already decided, if tonight is awful and I make a fool of myself I'm just going to ship off to some other country. I've took up and left once, I'm quite positive that I can do it again. Therefore, I'm not nervous anymore, or so I've told myself, because if tonight doesn't go as I have it planned inside my head, then I'll never see these people again in my life. Problem solved.

Nick knocks on the door twice then walks on in, taking his shoes off on the 'Welcome' mat, I follow his lead, taking my shoes off and hanging my jacket on the coat rack just inside the door. The inside of this home is lavish, a definite place that would describe 'home sweet home'. While I'm looking around the room, which is obviously the living room, a curly haired woman walks in, a bright smile plastered onto her face. Nick hugs her tightly, a type of hug that only a boy could give his mother.

"Mom, this is Miley," he introduces me and I push my hand out, ready for a handshake, but instead she gives me a sly look and pulls me in, hugging me as if she's known me my entire life.

"It's nice to meet you Miley," she says, pulling away from our embrace. "I hope you like Italian food," she says, before walking toward the kitchen, I watch as Nick follows and I quickly tag along behind him. Once we're in the kitchen my eyes meet a small group of people talking loudly at the dinner table. Nick clears his throat, all goes silent and all eyes turn toward me. I smile nervously, waving my hand a tiny bit at the group of people.

"Hello there!" a girl yells, jumping out of her seat and over to me, "My name's Demi, Nick's told us so much about you!" she exclaims, her voice never tuning down a notch. I laugh slightly, noticing the bright smile on her face, her teeth perfectly aligned.

"Only good things I hope," I say, and she quickly nods her head.

"Of course!" she replies, turning toward the table, "Let me introduce you to everyone," she says, her eyes brightening up with excitement and she pulls me over to the table. "This is Joe, he's my fiancé," she quickly smiles at him and gives him a peck on the cheek.

"Nice to meet you Miley," he nods his head toward me.

"Nice to meet you too, Joe," I reply.

"And that over there is my dad, Paul, he's a preacher at the local church in town," she informs me. We exchange a quick nod and then Demi reintroduces me to the mom of the family, her name being Denise. As soon as Demi's done introducing me to everyone she motions for me to take a seat next to her, which I do so willingly. When I've sat down, Nick and Denise bring the food to the table. After the food has been placed Nick takes the empty chair beside me and Denise beside her husband.

"Let us bow our heads," Paul says, everyone around the table obeying his orders. I bow my head, and close my eyes, listening as he says a prayer aloud. I haven't said a prayer at all since I was six and my mom made me go to church, and only then the only reason I ever prayed was because the teacher told us to. "Amen," he says, closing the prayer, everyone echoes his words and starts grabbing for the food.

I must say, the food does look delicious, I wait for everyone to get their own share and then I slip a piece of the Italian style chicken on to my plate, along with some noodles. Everyone begins eating and before long, the conversation rolls back in.

"So, Miley, why'd you decide to come to Hendersonville?" Denise asks me, her smile present as it has been all night long.

I quickly gulp down my food and look at her, shrugging my shoulders slightly, "I um, I just thought it was time for a change," I say

"Right, so where are you from again?" she asks me.

"New York," I answer.

"Well, then coming to Hendersonville is definitely a big change for you, huh?" she says, taking a small bite of my food.

"Yeah, it's definitely been a totally new experience for me," I reply.

"How'd you discover Nick?" Demi pipes in, looking over at me.

"My check engine light came on before I got into town and I took my car to his shop to get it checked up on, and, well the rest is pretty self explanatory," I say, a quick laugh coming from my lips. Everyone joins in and then the conversation starts to turn, different people asking other people things about their day. Throughout the meal I become myself, joining in with the random conversations that pop up. There really wasn't any reason to be worried about tonight; all these people are really easy going and fun to hang out with.

"It was good having you over Miley, you'll have to come back some time," Denise tells me after the table has been cleaned off and Nick and I are standing next to the door, ready to leave.

"I had a wonderful time and I'll be back over as soon as I possibly can, you're an excellent cook," I tell her. She smiles brightly, giving me a hug. When she pulls away, Nick gives her a hug too, along with a kiss on the cheek. I can't help but adore the mother-son relationship that they have. I turn toward the door, and stick my hand on the knob.

In her oh so quiet voice, I hear Denise whispering in Nick's ear. "She's a keeper," she whispers. A smile spreads across my face, we're not together, but hearing her say that makes me wish that we were together. After that amazing dinner, and hearing Denise say that about me, there's no way that I'm going to be leaving anytime soon.

After Denise releases Nick from her hug, we go outside and get in his vehicle, immediately starting to drive down the road.

"Did you have fun?" he asks, laying his arm on the armrest in between the seats.

"I had an amazing time, I really like you're family," I tell him, looking over to see him smiling.

"I'm really glad you had such a good time," he says, and for a slight second, his hand brushes my forearm, rubbing my skin lightly. And even though the moment only lasts for a tiny while, the gesture of it means the world to me and I can't help but feel the blood that rushes to my cheeks.

**A/n:** Some big stuff is going on in my personal life, and I'm not really sure what's going to happen within the next few days. It's a possibility that my internet connection could be lost for quite a while. So, this is just kind of a head's up in case that does happen. I promise I haven't abandoned you guys, I will manage to get a new chapter up somehow someway at some point. If you want to stay sort of updated, follow me on twitter, my username is JBlvrr, I'll try to put as much up on there about what's going on as I possibly can. I love you guys so much! And appreciate the reviews tremendously. :)


	10. Chapter 10

**New Habits Ten.**

Nick's house really has become my home; I'm so comfortable with the whole atmosphere of this place that I don't think I could leave if I wanted to. All thoughts of my 'old life' have disappeared and I rarely think about the city now. Of course, the cooking always helps me stay away from thoughts of there…

The best tasting omelet sits in front of me, as I chew slowly on the bite inside my mouth, once I'm done chewing, I open my eyes and look over at Nick, who's chuckling quietly to himself as he eats his own food and looks at me. "What?" I ask, a slight smile appearing on my face.

"You just look so funny when you eat, it's like you've never had an omelet before in your life," he chuckles.

"I can't help that you cook so well, I really didn't even realize that a man could cook as good as you do," I state the truth, never in my life has a man been able to cook, or been willing to do so. And, I can only imagine, if they had attempted to cook it wouldn't have tasted nearly as good as this stuff does.

"I'm glad I can make you happy with my cooking," he laughs, taking another bite before looking back up at me, "So, I've been meaning to ask you a question," he begins, and I raise my right eyebrow slightly, encouraging him to continue. "There's this thing tonight…" he pauses, looking down nervously at his food before continuing, "It's this thing we call a Barn Dance, a family friend is hosting it and he asked if I would come, and I figured that it might be nice to take someone along with me," he wraps it up, looking at me, a nervous glance.

I can't help but smile, "So, like a date?" I question, hoping to goodness that he says yes. Maybe I shouldn't be too prepared to move on with other men, but this guy, he makes me feel as if there is nothing in the world to worry about, he makes me feel like I can move on.

"Um, yeah," he says, a slight blush rising on his cheeks. My smile intensifies; a man that can blush in front of a lady is a true man.

"In that case, I'd love to go," I say, watching as the happiness glows from his face at my acceptance.

"Good," he says, standing up with his plate in hand, "Whenever I get home from work tonight we'll head on out," he informs me, walking over to the sink and dropping his empty plate in the hollow area.

"Sounds like a plan," I say, taking my own plate and dumping the scraps into the trash can before placing it inside the sink, alongside his. He smiles down at me, and I smile back up. Something is definitely starting to bloom.

"What should I wear?" I ask, knowing that if I don't know then I'll worry about what to put on.

"Just be casual, nothing too fancy," he tells me, walking over to the door, and slipping on his work boots. Once he's ready to go, he slips the door open, and turns toward me, "I'll see you soon," he says, slipping out the door before I have a chance to reply. I feel the heat of a faint blush staining my cheeks, and then I take off up the stairs and into the bathroom. I have to get ready.

I use just enough time getting ready, having fifteen minutes to spare and make sure that everything is just perfect. My makeup is light, with shades that have just enough sparkle in them. My outfit is casual, consisting of fitted jeans, a racer back light pink t-shirt and a pair of white gladiator shoes. And my hair is fitting, loose curls pulled back with a light pink bow to match my shirt. I stand in front of the mirror, adjusting the way my shirt is lying, until I hear the front door open.

Without a second thought, I make my way down the stairs, making sure that I don't walk to fast; I don't want to seem too eager. "Hey," I say when I spot him shaking off his boots. He looks over at me, looking at my outfit before replying.

"Hey, I'm just going to go get ready then I'll be ready to go," he says, walking toward me to get up the stairs. "You look great by the way," he says, right before he disappears up the stairwell. A grin loosens my lips, and I move away from the stairs, waiting for him patiently as I lean against the door.

Minutes later Nick darts down the stairs, and without saying a word, he opens the door and allows me to exit the house first. "We'll take the car in the garage," he tells me. He walks beside me until we reach the garage and he leaves my side to open up the garage door. And there sits his very clean white Toyota Camry. I walk over to the passenger side and climb on in, while Nick maneuvers his way into the driver's seat.

About a half hour later we pull up to a decent size barn, with lights streaming out of the cracks of the boards that make it up. We get out of the car, meeting each other at the head of the vehicle, walking inside the barn together. As soon as we're inside I can't help but enjoy this meeting. People are up and about on the "dance floor" having a good ole time while a band is on a handmade stage, singing a round of country music that I've never heard in my life. Then all around, where tables are set up, people are conversing and laughing wildly as they share a drink.

Nick leads me toward a table, where a guy instantly makes a comment. He looks straight at me, whistles loudly, then lets his tongue roll, "Well, I'll be darned Nicky boy has got himself a girl," everyone around him laughs, and even a small grin escapes Nick's lips. When we've reached the table, another guy joins in, "Well, you've got you a winner there, she's as pretty as a speckled puppy dog," he says, ruffling Nick's curly hair. I look up at Nick, watching as the blush on his face intensifies with every second.

"Guys, this is Miley," he says, trying to ignore their comments by introducing me. I slightly wave at the group, with a smile on my face. My mom always told me to smile when first meeting someone, a smile is always appreciated.

"Good to meet you," rings out through the crowd afterwards and I can feel my own self blushing from all the attention.

"Would you like something to drink?" Nick asks me, and I nod slightly. "Come with me," he says, leading me over to the coolers that are filled with beer. He takes his own bottle after he hands me one.

"Thanks," I say, popping off the cap before taking a small sip. He does the same, and we walk on around the barn, spotting Joe and Demi sitting at a small corner table.

"Miley!" Demi squeals, getting up from her seat and giving me a hug. As if we've been friends for years and we've suddenly ran into each other. It feels good to be accepted by her.

After talking with them for a long while, Nick decides it's time to do something new. "How about a dance?" he asks, motioning toward the large group of people dancing. I shrug my shoulders, and get up from my seat, following him out into the middle of the group of people.

The dancing is nothing like it is in the clubs, no grinding and sweat, just a hint of joking around and having fun with it. We fool around for a little while, him twirling me around multiple times and sweeping me back. The night was full of laughter, and just right down one of the most fun thing I think I've ever experienced.

When we're done dancing, we slip off to the side back to where Joe and Demi are. He wraps his arm around my waist and my teeth attack my bottom lip as I lean into his body. "Are you ready to go?" he asks, looking down at me. I nod slightly and he walks me outside and back to the passenger side of the car. But, instead of opening the door for me, he pushes me up against the car, wrapping both his arms around my waist. I can feel my knees go weak.

"Is it okay if I kiss you?" he asks, looking directly into my eyes, my lips part and I nod my head, unable to say anything at the moment. He leans forward, breathing on the corner of my mouth for a few seconds before he presses his lips to mine, softly moving my own lips with his. I feel my arms loosely snake around his neck and pull him toward me, loving the feeling of his warm lips on mine. I seriously think I could live in this moment forever. He doesn't try to push me too far, and once we've kissed so long that we're in need for air, he pulls away, opening his eyes as he rests his forehead on mine.

"That was… amazing," I say, breathing in between words. My chest rises and falls, as I look into his eyes, admiring the way his eyes are made of that chocolate-y light brown color along with a darker brown. He nods in agreement, rubbing his thumbs in a circular motion on my waist.

"I really like you," he says, licking at his lips, "And I feel like we just have a really strong connection even though we've only known each other for a short while. Really, I just want to know if you'll date me?" he questions, the nervousness fluttering through his voice.

"Of course," I whisper, leaning forward to kiss him once again. Our lips entangle and he moves his hands up to my hair, running his calloused hands through my brown waves. This truly is the happiest day of my life.

**A/n: **So, everything's went down and I don't have internet access where I'm staying so I've asked TheHeartNeverLies442 to post the chapters that I make and she's fortunately agree. I apologize now if the chapters don't come as soon as you'd like, as I said in the last chapter, I'm dealing with a lot right now and I have a lot on my mind so it's really hard for me to do anything at the time being. But, hopefully you all will stick with me. Thanks :).


	11. Chapter 11

**New Habits  
Eleven.**

Love has always spiked my interest; I've always imagined that everything about love was just magical. With my past relationship I never really had anything magical, nothing was ever really special, I just had a tad bit of interest in a guy and we dated, but that obviously didn't turn out to my liking. This, that kiss last night, was magical. It's as if I can still feel his lips pushing up against mine, our bodies standing as close together as they possibly could. Last night was magical, and I can't help but think that what I'm feeling now, just might be the love that I've always dreamed about.

But, I'm not getting too ahead of myself. I refuse to let myself get my hopes up just in case something very out of the ordinary happens and I have to pack up my bags and leave this place. But I'm really hoping that nothing along those lines happens. I just don't think I could leave willingly.

So, I'm now the girlfriend of a mechanic; a very handsome, charming, nice mechanic. A country raised boy, some guy that I never thought I would ever fall for. What has gotten into me?

I pull the covers off of me, realizing that even though lying here in bed all day and thinking about how nice my life is would be nice, it wouldn't be very good for my health. The air is cold, probably because Nick likes to keep the air conditioner on all night long for some odd reason. I don't bother putting any other clothes on and I make my way on down to the kitchen in my pajamas.

There he is, hair styled back, jeans hanging just right, shirt tucked in, working at the stove, just like he does every morning. I walk over to him, standing beside him as I watch him flip the omelet over in the pan. He takes his eyes off of the pan for only a second as he pecks my lips, causing a smile to rush onto my lips.

"Good morning," he says, working ever so preciously with the food.

"Good morning," I reply, leaning up and kissing his cheek before I move over to the cabinets and take out two plates, setting the table just the way he likes it.

"Demi called me this morning, she wants to have a 'Girl's Day Out' if you're up for it," he tells me, I look over at him.

"Um, yeah, sure I'd love to go. Give me her number and I'll call her after breakfast to let her know I'll go," I reply, excited to finally have something to do other than watch television all day.

"You won't need to call her, she already assured me that you would love to go and that she'll be over here at eleven," I can't help but laugh, looks like even if I didn't want to go on this little day out I wouldn't have a choice either way.

"Good to know," I say, as Nick brings the food over to the table.

By the time eleven rolls around I'm dressed and ready to go. And Demi arrives at that exact time, not a second later. "Hello there pretty girl," she greets me, when I open the door to her car and slide in.

"Hello," I say, smiling at her brightly.

"You peg me as a girl that likes to shop, am I right?" she asks, as she backs up and starts to pull out of the driveway.

"You are correct," I say.

"Good, because there's this mall that I love to go to about a half hour from here and I've been dying to find someone that's willing to go with me!" she exclaims, speeding up the vehicle once she reaches the blacktop area.

Evidently, Demi is super good at estimating how far away places are and when she'll arrive because exactly thirty minutes later we pull up to a mall. I haven't seen a mall in over three weeks; this is seriously my heaven. She hops on out of the car and I follow suit, walking with her up to the front door of the mall. We go on in and instantly I see shop after shop, most of them I've never heard of before, but nevertheless I can shop for clothes and that's a definite plus.

"I think you'll like this store," she says, pulling me into the one that's directly to our left. Once we're inside the store I can tell that she's right, I will like it. Instantly I move toward a rack of shirts, picking out a couple that I think have the quality of being worn. I look up from the rack once I'm done with it to see Demi doing her own shopping in the opposite corner, giving me the initiative to move on to the next rack that interests me, the dresses.

We continue to shop, managing to rummage through about fifteen stores before we decide to call it quits and get something to eat. We stay inside the mall, picking out the food we want from the food court then seating ourselves at the first empty table we can find. We situate ourselves in the seats, throwing our bags onto the empty part of the table we don't plan to use.

"So, you and my brother seem sorta close?" she hints at an explanation and I can't help but feel the blood pulsing through my body, flooding my cheeks with a bright pink color.

"Well, as of last night, we're together," I say.

"What do you mean by together?" she questions.

"We're dating now, he asked me if I wanted to and well, I said yes," I explain to her. She squeals lightly, her body jumping up and down in her seat.

"I knew it would happen soon, Joe owes me twenty bucks," she announces and I can't help but allow my jaw to sag.

"What?" I ask.

"Joe and I had a bet going on about how long it would take for you and Nick to get together, I said that it would happen within a week of last night and he said in a month, so it looks like I've won the bet. We bet a lot though, don't let it bother you, you'll get used to it," she quickly assess after she catches my shocked gaze.

"That's… interesting," I say, not knowing what else to say.

"Yeah, so now that I'm twenty dollars richer I think that you need a new outfit," she informs me.

"I just bought plenty of new outfits, I don't think I need any more for a while," I chuckle.

"No," she pauses for a second, starting to get up from her seat, "I think you need one more," she finishes, grabbing her bags, forcing me to quickly grab my own and scurry after her toward yet another store.

"You're living in Tennessee now Miley, you need an outfit that fits the scene of Barn Dances and well, just looking country. It's a sin not to have an outfit such as the one I'm about to pick out for you while living here," she says, leading me toward the back of a random store that I'm guessing she didn't randomly pick out.

Minutes later Demi throws an outfit in my hands, not even bothering to ask my size. Look down at the outfit I realize that I should've known what she was going to pick out before she threw them at me. A red plaid shirt and worn out looking light blue jeans lay in my hands. But, Demi's not done, she then trails on over to another section which I instantly recognize as the shoe section. Before I even have a chance to get over there she pulls up a pair of brown cowboy boots, looks them over then motions for me to bring my clothes over to the counter.

I can already tell that Demi isn't one of those people that you can argue with, and I realize that no matter how many times I try to tell her that I'll never wear this outfit that she's going to buy it anyways so I might as well just let her buy it without wasting my energy. I throw the clothes on the counter and the girl working it rings them up, Demi paying for the outfit with a smile on her face. The lady working hands Demi the bag, and Demi immediately hands it over to me. I take it, and we walk out of the store, heading toward the door that will lead us to the parking lot.

"Nick really likes when people dress in plaid," she informs me, giving me a small wink. I can't help but laugh, I think I'm going to love this girl.

**A/n:** So, here's another. There's not a lot of niley, but I really wanted to get the upcoming friendship of Miley and Demi in there.  
Here's the deal; My Granny loves me so much that she got internet for her house, which is currently where I'm staying. So, I'll be able to update as much as I can now. Beware though that I still may not update as often as you would like, I'm still going through some rough times.  
I appreciate all of you, thanks so much for your support. Also, if you looked for my twitter account and couldn't find it, I changed it. It is now; /Fallforyouux  
Thanks so much:)


	12. Chapter 12

**New Habits  
Twelve.**

I click out of my messages, after ending my conversation with Demi, who has grown to become my best friend in this small little town in the short time of a month since our shopping spree. I've gotten used to the routine of staying here in Nick's home, but I'm determined to find a job before too long because sitting around this house the majority of my days by myself will possibly drive me up the wall. I glance at the clock that's lit up on my phone and grin, anytime now Nick will be getting home from work.

I sit patiently on the couch, listening carefully until I hear the gravels crunching underneath the wheels of Nick's vehicle. I peer outside the window, and watch as he pulls himself out of the vehicle and starts walking toward the door. Once he's inside the house, I get up from my position on the couch and walk over to him, kissing him quickly.

"I'm so glad you're back, I was going out of my mind. Can we do something this afternoon?" I ramble, looking at him hopefully.

"I'm already one step ahead of ya babe," he says, showing off the movie that's in his hand. Miley examines the cover, instantly recognizing the look of it, a horror movie.

"So, is this the ordinary man coming out in you?" I ask, a slight smirk settled on my lips. He just chuckles, throwing his around my neck and guiding me on into the living room. He lets loose of me when he's closer to the television and pops the DVD into the player. "I'm going to make some popcorn," I announce, walking into the kitchen and over to the counter where I've saw the popcorn residing before. I take a bag out of the box, place it inside the microwave and allow it to pop away. When it's done I take it out and walk back into the living room where Nick is already lounging on the couch, taking up the majority of the sitting area.

"That smells good," he grins, taking it from my hands and taking a handful to eat.

"Are you going to let me sit down?" I ask, motioning toward his spread out body. He doesn't move an inch; he just pats the space that's in front of him. I roll my eyes playfully and snuggle myself into the curve of his body. He wraps his arm around my waist and kisses my cheek before eating another handful of the popcorn. I grab the remote from the table in front of me and click the play button, then quickly getting back inside the hollow space that I've made myself.

"You're not going to get all freaked out because of this movie are you?" he asks, looking at me concerned.

"Why would I do that?" I question.

"Because it's a scary movie, and most girls get a little freaked out, or sometimes they completely freak out," he informs me.

"I'm not like most girls Nick, I think I can handle a scary movie," I tell him, looking him straight in the eyes before looking back at the television screen.

Halfway into the movie and I can't stand the sights that are rolling around on the flickering screen. It doesn't help that the setting of the movie is out in the middle of the county, exactly where I am in this exact moment. I've managed to turn my body around and stuff my head into Nick's chest, while his arms are wrapped securely around me.

"Are you okay, Miles?" he asks, backing away from me the slightest bit possible so that he can see my face.

"Yeah, yeah I'm fine. Is it almost over?" I ask, my voice trembling just a tiny bit.

I really can't believe that I'm reacting this way, I never imagined that I would ever freak out over a made up scary movie. I guess that's what I get for watching chick flicks my entire life and never venturing off to take on a scary movie and what it's made of.

"It's about halfway done, do you want me to turn it off?" he asks, but I know that inside he really wants to finish the movie, and he's only asking me that from the inside of his very kind heart.

"No, it's fine, really, I'm fine, you can watch it," I say, my voice muffled because I've pushed myself back inside his chest. I relax slightly, but only slightly, when he starts to rub circles on my back and kisses my neck sweetly two times.

The movie finally finishes and I hesitantly stand up from Nick's secure hold, I glance around the room, and check down the hallway before I think that the house is partially safe and announce that I'm okay again, although I'm not quite sure that I've recovered back to my normal self just quite yet.

"I'm going to go change into my pajamas," I say, and then I think about it, "And then I'll probably just go on to bed," I tell him, realizing that if I sleep then I'll be able to ignore the scared emotions that running around in my head right now.

"Okay," he says, standing up from the couch and wrapping his arms around me. He lowers his lips onto mine and allows our lips to move together for a few seconds before he pulls away, "Sleep tight, and if you need anything you know where I'll be," he says, pecking my lips one more time before removing his grasp on me and allowing me to go on up to my room.

Once I'm inside the room I check every crack and corner there is, making sure that there aren't any creepy guys ready to attack me once I turn my back. I'm still jittery but I manage to turn the light off and race to my bed, snuggling up in hopes that the spooks won't come out tonight.

I glance over at the clock glaring in my eyes; its midnight and I still haven't been able to fall asleep. Instead of even really trying to sleep I've been shifting my head from side to side, almost peeing my pants every time I hear the hardwood floor cracking. I glance across the hallway at Nick's closed door, I hate to wake him up, but at this rate I'm never going to get any sleep.

I look around the room quickly, making sure there isn't anyone there before I hop out of the bed and slightly jog down the hallway to Nick's door. I open it as quietly as I possibly can, looking in at his sleeping figure. Walking across the floor I step on a more than just a little creaky floor board and he jerks awake, squinting his eyes at me in the dark. I jump into the bed, wrapping my arms around his neck.

"I'm sorry, I couldn't sleep and I'm scared," he laughs loudly, wrapping his arm around my waist as he pulls my shirt up slightly to rub my cool skin with his warm hand. Then he kisses my forehead, letting his lips linger there for a slight moment.

"Oh, Miley you sure are something," he tells me, and I can't help but blush. I know that I must be acting like a scared little kid right now and that's embarrassing, but evidently scary movies just aren't my cup of tea.

"You'll keep me safe, right?" I ask, looking up at him with wide eyes.

"Of course babe, I've got a gun in the closet if I need to use it," he chuckles, leaning down and kissing my lips lightly. I smile at the touching of his lips and pull him in even deeper, biting down on his lip slightly. He groans lightly, and pull his lip away, pecking me on the lips twice. "You're driving me crazy," he announces, so obviously I've found his turn on…

"Sorry," I whisper, snuggling deep into his chest.

"Hey Miles?" he says, continuing to rub my back with his warm hands.

"Yeah?" I reply.

"I know this is kind of sudden because we've only been dating for a month, but Miles, I've been thinking and I love you," he announces and I bite down on my lip when I feel the smile fluttering onto my lips. I remove my face from his chest, looking deep into his eyes.

"I love you too Nick," I say, my smile growing wider with every second that passes. It seems as if a ton of bricks have been pushed off his chest and his smile emerges. He pulls me close to him and kisses me again, allowing our lips to move in sync with each other.

It feels as if I've finally met the boy of my dreams. And I can't help but think about the future, and all the wonderful things we'll do together.

**A/n: **It took me a while to get this one out, but I hope you like it. It's Niley fluff, basically. I just kind of wanted to advance in their relationship in this chapter. Drama's coming soon :D.  
Review, pleaseeee.


	13. Chapter 13

**New Habits  
Thirteen.**

"I'm wore out," Nick grumbles, throwing his head back on the arm rest of the couch. I giggle and sit down between his legs, resting my back against his chest. He snakes his arms around my waist and lifts his head up, kissing my neck sweetly. I turn my head toward his face and kiss his chin, smiling up at him.

"It's almost Friday, and then you can rest," I tell him, draping my arm around his neck.

"I can't wait," he tells me, his eyes wide with excitement. I chuckle at his enthusiasm and kiss his face again, enjoying the feeling of love that seems to radiate when we're together. "Before I forget," he says, "Demi wants you to come over to my parent's house tomorrow, she has something very important to ask you."

"What is it?" I ask him, but he just shrugs his shoulders.

"She wouldn't tell me, let me know whenever you figure it out," he says, snuggling his face into the crook of my neck. I giggle at the prickle of his stubbly hair on his chin.

"You need to shave," I tell him, pulling my face away from his.

"What if I don't want to?" he asks, his infamous smirk playing on his lips.

"I won't kiss you," I challenge, trying to imitate his little grin.

"You won't?" he questions, pulling on my waist so that I'm completely flipped over and lying on top of his body.

"Nope," I tell him, pulling my lips together into a tight line. He moves his hand up my back and onto my neck, pulling my face toward his. He rests his lips upon mine, and I can't help but let my lips relax and melt onto his. He licks slowly at my lip, and I let his tongue slide between my teeth and move through my mouth.

I know that we're going to last forever; I've already allowed myself to believe this. We're in love and I'm determined that there's nothing that can come between us now. We're perfect together.

I head on up to my bedroom now that Nick has left for work and get ready to spend my day with Demi and their parents. I pull on a pair of jeans and a tank top, then slip on a pair of flip flops before pulling my hair up into a pony tail. My sense of clothing has definitely changed over the time that I've been here.

Once I'm finished getting ready I head over to Nick's parents house. I can already see that Demi is already here, so I get out of my vehicle and walk up to the door, knocking twice. Demi answers.

"Yay! Miley, I'm so glad you came! I have a super important question and I'm all nervous about what you're going to say and I just, oh my gosh, come inside," she rambles, opening the door wide and stepping aside so that I can get inside. She motions for me to go into the kitchen, which I do. I'm greeted by Denise and Joe.

"Hey guys," I smile, waving politely at them.

"Hey Miley," Joe says, while Denise imitates my actions and waves at me.

"I have food ready," Denise announces, going over to the stove and bringing back a dish full of delicious looking chicken. "You all can eat whenever you like," she tells us, busying herself around the kitchen.

Demi finally makes her way into the kitchen. "I think we should eat first and then we can talk about what I need to discuss," she says, a lot calmer than she was when she answered the door. I nod my head in agreement and look over to see Joe doing the exact same thing.

Denise overhears the conversation and gets the plates from the cabinet, handing us each one. I take the plate and place a piece of chicken onto it, taking it over to the kitchen table and sitting down, everyone else following my lead.

We all eat, chatting about random things with our mouths full of food. I've gotten used to this type of etiquette and to be honest, I like it better. No one really cares around here if you have a small bite of food in your mouth when you speak, they just want to talk, you just have to make sure you're not overflowing with food because that's just nasty.

When we're done Denise picks up our plates, insisting that she'll pick up after us, and that she doesn't need our help, we just need to have fun. So, we make our way into the living room, watching a bit of television before Demi turns toward me. Joe must take that as his cue and he shifts toward me also.

"I've really only known you for a short time Miley, but we've become really good friends and I honestly think that one day, I'm hoping within the next year, that you'll be engaged to Nick and we'll be ready to have another family wedding, because you two are perfect for each other," Demi starts, and I'm not quite sure where this is going but I'm hoping it's not a big speech on how I better not hurt her brother, because there's no way in the world I would ever do something to harm him.

"But, anyway, as you know, Joe and I are having a wedding soon, we're hoping to have it all planned out in the matter of three months tops so that we can have our wedding in September. At first we weren't going to have any bridesmaids or anything like that in the wedding but here lately I've wanted to include a couple more people. So, I was wondering if you would want to be my maid of honor?" she looks hesitant, "I know we haven't known each other very long but I want you in my wedding because I feel like we're going to be really close."

I can't allow her to go on, I smile brightly and pull her into a hug. "I'd be honored!" I exclaim, squeezing her body tightly. She squeals and hugs onto me.

"Oh, thank God!" she cries out, pulling away from the hug, "I was so scared that you would think that it was creepy because of the short time span we've known each other," she says.

"Of course not Demi, I understand exactly where you're coming from. I feel as if we're sisters already," I giggle, the smile never leaving my face.

"This is wonderful, I appreciate you doing this so much Miles," she tells me.

And we continue on, talking about the colors of the wedding (orange, yellow, and white) and the type of dress she wants to pick out (strapless with a pretty bow). Then once we're done with the wedding talk I glance at the clock and realize that Nick should be home anytime now.

"I better get going; I have to tell Nick this exciting news!" I say, getting up from the couch. Demi walks with me to the door, hugging me once again when we get there.

At that time there's a knock on the door.

"I got it," Demi yells so that Denise won't rush to get it. She opens the door and there stands beautiful girl that I've never saw before. She's got blonde hair, but it's obviously been dyed that color, and a very petite figure. Her teeth are perfectly straight, and as white a white I've ever saw. And her eyes are a magnificent shade of blue.

"Hey Demi!" she exclaims, pulling the girl into a hug. I can't help but notice the shocked expression bearing Demi's face. "Where's Nicky? Is he here?" she asks.

And then, without even thinking about what's coming out of my mouth, "Who are you?" I ask bluntly.

"I'm Rachel," she exclaims holding her hand out for me to see the enormous rock resting delicately on her skinny finger, "Nick's fiancé."

**A/n:** And, the drama begins.  
Bear with me on this; I'm not the best when it comes to drama. I've already set up the layout but I personally think that I always allow the characters to resolve the issues too quickly. So, this may not be the best, but I'm going to try really hard!  
I'm going to be gone this Thursday until next Friday, so I'm not sure when I'll be able to update again. Review, please :)  
& Happy Mothers Day!


	14. Chapter 14

**New Habits  
Fourteen.**

And then, without even thinking about what's coming out of my mouth, "Who are you?" I ask bluntly.

"I'm Rachel," she exclaims holding her hand out for me to see the enormous rock resting delicately on her skinny finger, "Nick's fiancé."

* * *

I just stood there, staring at the beautiful ring that adorned her perfect finger. My mouth gaped open, and I didn't feel one single emotion go through my body. I feel as if I'm living inside a dream, and even though I'd really, really, really, really like to escape it, I can't. Because this is reality, and the guy that I love is a liar. I've just wasted months of my life, and for what? To get stomped on like a old newspaper?

My eyes take in her whole body, noticing the very cute outfit that she has on. The purple flower patterned dress she has on that ends right above her knee flatters her height, and the shoes that she has on aren't designer, but they're definitely cute and I would definitely wear them. I focus on her hair, looking at the flawless curls that are framing her face, a look that I would die to have. All the while she stands there, with her perfect pearly whites shining at me, mocking me.

I look down at the floor, the emotions finally starting to hit me, but I won't allow them to take me over, at least not yet. I listen to everything that's going on around me, Demi allows the girl to come into the house, and then I hear footsteps coming from inside the house.

"Demi, who was at the doo-," Denise's voice is cut off, standing stiffly in one spot. "Oh, uh, hi Rachel," I hear her say. And that's when it all starts to come crashing down, I can no longer keep the tears from flowing down my heated cheeks. Denise knows the girl by name, it's obvious that I've been lied to; it's obvious that this whole trip was a terrible mistake.

I take off down the hallway, sprinting as fast I can, ignoring the yell I get from Joe as I pass him in the living room. I run until I'm in the bathroom, locked away safely inside.

Sobs come from deep down in my stomach, creating an awful noise to echo off the walls and back inside my ears. I can feel the tears streaming down my face, some catching on my lip and sliding inside my mouth, I can taste the salty water. I fall to the floor, pulling my knees up to my chest, and I close my eyes. I just want to wake up, I want to wake up and all this be gone.

No more than ten minutes after I've locked myself in the bathroom I hear someone knocking on the outside.

"Miles, let me in, come on, this all just one big misunderstanding, please let me in," I hear Demi pleading with me. She goes silent for a while, listening to my awful noises, and then tries the knob, but it's locked. And it's going to stay locked. At least until I've calmed down and I can drive myself away from this place.

I expect Demi to start knocking again and begging me to let her in, but she doesn't ask to come inside anymore. Instead, I can faintly hear her talking, and I feel more tears falling as I hear the words come from her mouth, "Nick, you need to get your butt over here right now, something terrible has happened," pause, "No, there's not been an accident, it's just," she sighs, "Nick, please just hurry and get over here," she says, and I can tell that he's agreed to come on because no other words are said.

I squeeze the bridge of my nose, feeling that massive headache that I always get when I cry for a long period of time. I have a feeling this headache is going to last a while.

My sobs have died down, but the tears continue to flow, and I feel as if I can't stop them no matter what I tell myself. I prop myself up into a sitting position and rest my back against the bathroom wall, thinking about what's happening.

I've been lied to, I've trusted him with everything and now he's engaged. How can he just be engaged? How can everything that was so perfect this morning be so imperfect in the matter of a few hours? How could the guy that I've been living with have lied to me for all this time?

I hear talking again, and steps coming down the hallway in a hurry.

"Miles, are you in there?" he asks. I don't need to reply, Demi does for me.

"Duh, she's in there Nick, she locked herself in," and as if she's trying to prove her point she wiggles the door knob.

"Just go away Dems," he whispers to her. I hear her footsteps slowly fade away and then he starts talking to me again, "Come on Miley, please come out so that we can talk about this, I know that it seems really bad right now, but I promise it's not what it looks like." I can't help but slightly believe his words, I'm not sure why I do, but I feel like he's telling the truth, that maybe this isn't what it looks like. Maybe he's not really engaged and that perfect little Rachel girl is just trying to play some cruel joke on me.

"I love you Miley, please come out so that we can talk about this, I promise that everything's going to be okay if you just come out. Please come out Miles, I'm begging you," I can hear the sadness laced through his voice, the begging that I can't say no to. I get up from the cold spot on the floor, walking cautiously over to the door. I swipe at my tears, but they're only replaced with new ones. I unlock the door, and slowly open it, looking at him as the tears continue to spill over.

"Oh, Miles," he says, wrapping his arms around me. I can't bring myself to hug him back; I need to know the truth. He notices my lack of a response and he grabs my hand, leading me down the hallway and into the guest bedroom. "Let's talk," he says, rubbing his thumb in circles on my hand.

"I just need to know one thing," I say, my voice cracking from the tears.

"What is it? I'll tell you anything," he says, moving his face around and trying to get me to look in his eyes. I don't want to look at him right now, not until I know that he hasn't lied to me.

"Are you engaged to her?" I croak out. He hesitates, and my eyes shut, more tears flourishing in my eyes.

"Yes, Miles, but-," I cut him off, pulling my hand out of his and into his face.

"That's all I needed to know," I say, getting up from the bed and walking over to the door that leads to the hallway.

"Wait, Miles, let me explain," he says, walking up behind me grabbing hold of my hand. I yank it away from him, closing my eyes. This hurts the way it is, I don't need him making it worse.

"I'm leaving Nick, I don't feel like being lied to anymore and that's all I'll get if you explain," I say, rushing off down the hallway.

When I'm passing through the living room I can feel everyone's eyes on me. "Miles," I hear Demi say, and out of the corner of my eye I can see her walking toward me. But I don't want to talk to her right now, I don't want to talk to anyone, I just want to be alone so that I can cry and realize that everything I've been working for these past few months were a complete and total waste of time.

I walk quicker, to avoid the confrontation with Demi. I sprint outside, latching myself inside my car. The tears are still falling freely, I make no effort what so ever to wipe them away because they'll only be replaced, because I can't stop the tears, I can't even find it in me to try and stop them at this point.

Driving down the road I realize that I can't leave right now, because if I do I'll be driving all night and I'm not the best driver when it's dark outside. I look out my window and see the familiar lights of the hotel, and I pull in. I park my car and walk over to the lobby, and there sits what's her face.

"I need a room," I tell her. She nods her head, not carrying on with her usual cheerful conversation; it must be the tears that are filling my eyes by the second. She hands me a key, "I'll pay it in the morning." I tell her, looking at the number on the key and quickly scurrying off to the room.

Once I'm inside, I throw myself on the bed, the sobs starting back up again.

Everything about this trip was stupid, I shouldn't have ever come all the way to Tennessee just to escape my boyfriend, I should have stayed in the city in my own apartment. I've made the worst mistake of my life coming here, and tomorrow I'll be leaving to go back to my home, because nothing about this place is welcoming anymore.

**A/n:** So, yeah, they're engaged… :/ I promise there's a twist:).  
Okay, here's the deal. I didn't reply back to reviews because I was gone, and I already had this chapter ready, so I figured you all would prefer another chapter rather than my thank yous. (thank you, though for reviewing). My school is out in two weeks.. I'm up to my butt with homework and finals are coming up. So, bear with me. I might not update as soon as you'd like. I apologize now.


	15. Chapter 15

**New Habits  
Fifteen.**

It's the same way for everyone. After a night of endless crying your eyes are undoubtedly going to be red and puffy, your face is going to fill like it's swollen, you just want to stay in bed the rest of your life, and you feel like everything in the world is wrong. There's nothing wonderful about releasing your emotions and waking up the next morning. It's like a hangover, reminding and annoying.

I stare up at the ceiling of the tiny hotel room, not even the tiniest bit phased by the nastiness covering the white surface. This shows how much I've changed, this little town has sucked in my old personality and spit me one right back out, regardless of whether I like it or not. I don't like it anymore.

All I want to do is get in my car and drive back to the city, go shopping and just enjoy myself. Start my life over, again, for the second time. Maybe the second time will prove to me that everything's okay in my life. That I'm actually going to make it. Just maybe.

Unfortunately, I'm not able to just drive back to comfort because all my stuff is at Nick's house, therefore I would be driving around in my little car with no money for gas or a place to stay, or clothing to wear the rest of my life. Then my life would be ten times as miserable as it is right now. And that would just lead to my sanity crossing over to insanity.

I force myself out of the bed, walking over to the bathroom only to realize that there's no point in taking shower because I'll just have to put my dirty clothes back on and cause my body to stink all over again. I turn around, and walk to the door, going on out and heading straight for the lobby, trying to process a story in my head as to why I'll have to come back and pay for my room.

"Hey," the young girl says, the bright smile illuminating her face. I wonder how she's able to keep that smile on her face constantly.

"How do you have so much time to spend here? Don't you have school or something?" I think my voice came out just a tad bit harsh, but at this point I'm too out of it to care or even try to fix the tone of my voice.

"No, I'm out of high school, graduated last year," she informs me.

"What about college?" I ask.

"There's no need for it. My parents own this place, when they retire I'll be here to take over. Family tradition sort of thing," I nod my head, so basically, from what I can tell; she's being forced to work here because her parents believe in passing down this dump within the family. Pathetic.

"Well, anyways, is it alright if I come back and pay you later? I kind of left my money… somewhere else," I decide on the limited details route, it's safer than any other I can think of.

"That's fine, I trust you," she smiles. Trust. That must be something that people just earn easy here or something, I trusted Nick from the beginning, and this girl trusts me because I've talked to her out of the three nights I've stayed here. Pathetic.

"Thanks," I say, not bothering to allow for further conversation, I turn on my heel and walk out of here, straight to my car.

My first destination: Demi's house.

I pull up to her house, and I just look at it. This is the place where everything I had thought was true crumbled into a million pieces of the pretty lie that I've been told. This is where my heart shattered and caused me to realize that the man I thought I loved was a big fake that's engaged. This house didn't really hold many happy memories for me right now.

Realizing that I can't stall this moment any longer I pull myself out of my car, forcing myself to knock on the door when I reach that point. Demi immediately slings the door open, she's obviously been watching me from the inside. She throws her arms around my neck, pulling me inside the house.

"Oh, my gosh Miles! I've been trying to get a hold of you but your cell phone just keeps going to the machine and I'm just, I'm completely bumfuzzled about what went on yesterday and I just want you to know-," that's where I have to cut her off. I'm not willing to listen to anything that involves _him_. I don't want to hear it.

"I'm here to discuss other issues, I would appreciate it if you wouldn't talk about the, um, situation from yesterday," I tell her. Her eyes soften and she pulls away from me, giving me her sweet smile.

"I understand, I won't mention it," she says. And I'm thankful. Actually, I'm beyond thankful.

"I'm here to discuss wedding issues. I understand if you don't think it's appropriate for me to be the maid of honor. And just know that my feelings won't be hurt if that's the way you want it," I explain, thinking over the idea that just yesterday Demi asked me to be her maid of honor, and now I'm going to have to give it up.

"No, no! I still want you to be my maid of honor, Miles, even though things are… different now, I still plan on keeping you a very close friend. No matter what happens, we'll keep in touch, so please, if you'll still do it, I really want you to be my maid of honor," she begs, a slightly desperate look pouring over her face. I nod, pulling her into a hug.

"Of course I'll still do it," I say, the tears starting to collect in my eyes. I blink rapidly, forcing them to disperse. She wraps her arms around me tightly. I'm positive that there's no way I'm going to let Demi outside my circle of friends, we're too close. It's crazy how close you can get to people in only a short matter of time.

"So, what are the arrangements going to be? Like, when are you going to come to help plan and stuff? It's getting close you know, so you won't have to come down very often," she tells me.

"I think every two weeks should be enough. It's a long drive so I don't want to come down too much, so every two weeks gives me a total of six visits, I think that'll be plenty enough time to plan a wedding, don't you think?" I ask, remembering that she told me about her September wedding.

"That sounds wonderful," she pauses, "Thanks Miley, for still sticking with the wedding even though all this happened, I really do appreciate it," she says, leaning over and giving me another hug.

"Anything for you Dems," I say, circling my arms around her body as well.

After our little "moment" I pull away, not wanting to leave but knowing that I've got to get everything done before it starts getting dark outside.

"Is Nick working today?" I ask, my voice cracking slightly when I say his name.

"Yeah, he's been at the shop literally every second since you left yesterday," I nod my head.

"Alright then, I guess I'll head on over there and get my stuff," I say, starting to head toward the door, Demi following behind me. She gives me a sad smile at the door, hugging me once again.

"I'll see you in two weeks," she says, pulling away, that smile still on her face.

"See you," I say, opening the door and walking out to my car, it's going to be hard getting over this place.

**A/n:** So, yeah, school's practically over now. I only have a half of a day left so here's another chapter since I'm super bored. I hope you enjoy it, even though not that much happens. :)  
I'm just going to stop replying to reviews, for some reason I can't just click on the review when it pops up in my mail and reply, I have to go to FF and go to reviews and blah blah blah, and I'm a lazy person so that's just too much for me. Just know, that I love all of your reviews and I'm secretly thanking you every time I receive one:)


	16. Chapter 16

**New Habits  
Sixteen.**

There's a car in his driveway. A car that I've never saw before in my life, a car that a very pretty girl named Rachel would fit perfectly in. Then right beside it, there's a car that I know Nicholas drives. Two cars in one driveway can mean one heck of a lot of things. But, regardless of how bad I want to just turn around and get the heck out of dodge, I know that I need my clothes, and they're all inside the house that I'll never see again after today.

So, I park my car. This is where I get to show the skills that I learned growing up, "putting my big girl panties on" as my mother likes to call it. This is my chance to show just how strong I am, and how little this ordeal has affected me. Even though it's killing me on the inside.

I slide out of the seat, shutting the door behind me. Slowly, I walk up the steps, onto the porch, and up to the door. This is where I have decision one to make; to knock, or just go on in. This one little motion will decide my mood for the entire time I'm inside his house.

I open the door and walk inside.

There she is.

Her perfect body in white shorts, proving just how good of a tan she has, bright orange tank top and the kind of straight hair that you aim for when you're straightening your hair in the morning. And there he is, just like their vehicles. Side by side, talking about something. And whatever it is, I sure don't want to know. One person can only handle so much heartbreak.

And even though I tell myself that I don't want to know anything about anything, I glance at her hand as I start toward the stairs, noting that the ring is still placed delicately on her finger.

"Miley," Nick says, jumping up from the couch and over toward me. I run up the stairs. He acts as if he's got caught doing something, like cheating on me. Except, he got caught doing something on an entirely different level yesterday. This is nothing compared to that.

I grab my luggage from the closet, throwing it on the bed, dumping in as many articles of clothing that I can fit in the short amount of time that I want to be here. Of course, I can't pack all my things in the amount of time it takes for one person to climb the stairs.

"Miles, please, will you please just let me explain myself, I promise this is all just a big misunderstanding," he begs, grabbing onto my wrist. Without a second thought I shake his grasp off, moving around the room to gather clothes from the dresser drawers.

"Please, Nick, just leave me alone," I say, keeping my eyes focused on the clothes. I keep myself busy, blinking my eye lids as fast as I can. I can't afford to break down while I'm here, this is my time to prove myself, to show that I'm not a little weakling and I will stand up for myself. This is my time.

"I know you want me to leave you alone Miley, but if you would let me explain myself then you would just, you would understand and everything will be okay. We'll be okay," he says, his voice cracking slightly. A tear slides down; I quickly wipe it away with my shoulder.

I can't reply. My voice will crack. I keep my lips sealed tight, biting down on my lip every so often to keep myself focused on a different kind of pain.

I continue to pack my clothes, and I'm almost finished when I realize that he hasn't said another word. I glance over at his body, wishing instantly that I hadn't. He's sitting down on the bed, looking at me helplessly as a tear rolls softly down his cheek. I look away.

There are only two shirts and one pair of pants left in the closet. There's only three items keeping me connected to this house right now. As a tear slides free, I pull the two shirts and my pair of pants from their hangers, walking them back over to my bag and stuffing them in. I bite down hard on my lip, focusing on the pattern of the comforter as I slide the zipper shut. This is it.

I pick the luggage up, ignoring Nick, and walk down the stairs. I walk outside of the door, and down the steps. It's only then that I realize he's still behind me, begging me to let him explain with his eyes. Why won't he just spit it out? It it's something that's not going to bother me and really make me want to stay, then why won't he just tell me already?

"Nick," I say, scolding myself when I feel my lip tremble.

"Yes?" he asks, looking at me, his eyes hopeful.

"No matter what, just know, that I'll always love you," I say, watching his eyes as they return to their said puppy looking ways. And his answer? One very simple nod. I nod my head back, turning around and quickly walking to my car. I throw my luggage inside and rush myself, starting the engine and slowly turning myself around in his driveway.

I'm ready to leave, and I hesitantly turn my head, looking out the window only to be disappointed. There he goes, walking back up the stairs, and entering the house with his head low.

I sit there, just waiting. Waiting for him to realize that I'm still outside and he can still make this work, all he's got to do is give me this great excuse that he's got and I'll be his forever. I keep waiting, looking back hopefully at the door. But once ten minutes has past, I just look like a desperate girl sitting the love of her life's driveway, begging for some fairy tale ending that only happens in the movies. I remove my foot from the brake, not even noticing as a dozen tears spill from my eyes, and down my cheeks.

So much for putting on my big girl panties.

**A/n: **The next one's ready. I'll probably put it up Saturday, maybe Sunday.


	17. Chapter 17

**New Habits  
Seventeen.**

I'm back in the city, that's for sure. Everything about this hotel room is completely opposite of the one I stayed in last night. This hotel room smells like a flowery fragrance, has bleach white comforters, and the walls are a spotless light blue color. Nothing about this place would turn a person away, but for some reason I don't love it as much I would have before.

I shake off my thoughts; I definitely don't need to be thinking about the past. That only brings back bad memories. Instead, I need to do exactly what I know will help me cheer up and enjoy being the city once again; shopping.

It's only a few steps out of the hotel's lobby that I spot at least ten shops that I absolutely adore. They're all right there, just like they're waiting on me. No one hour drive, just a few steps away. I walk down the sidewalk, stopping in the first one that I consider one of my favorite stores.

Thirty minutes later, and I've searched through three stores, if I were guessing that's a personal record for me. And I would consider this an accomplishment if I actually had bags in my hands. The only thing I'm holding at the moment is my purse, and it's not a new one either. A sigh rushes through my lips as I spot a cute looking store across the street.

I look both ways and cross the street, entering the store. All the bright colors are enticing, forcing my feet to scurry across the floor from rack to rack. I pick up a bright yellow shirt from its hanger, examining it closely. It's a v-neck shirt and I can't help but thinking about how in Tennessee I rarely wore a low cut shirt because there was never any need to. And I never wore anything with that bright of a hue. I quickly put the shirt on its hanger, and walk away from the store altogether. I don't need reminders of that place right now.

I look around once I'm outside; wishing that anything in one of the windows would be begging my name. It never happens though, and I realize that today just isn't the day to shop. Maybe I should wait until tomorrow; maybe I'll feel better tomorrow.

I spot a tiny café a couple shops down and make my way toward it. When I'm right outside I can smell the food that's cooking. I stuff my hands inside my pockets and head over to a small table for two. In the matter of seconds a frazzled looking woman walks quickly over to my table, small notepad in hand.

"What can I get you today?" she asks, almost out of breath. At the diner in Tennessee no one was ever this stressed out, no one ever looked as wore out as this woman did right now. I smile at her, pushing my thoughts aside.

"I'll just take," I start, looking down at the menu. It really is a bad idea for me to be thinking back to my time in Tennessee, but right now all I want is one of Nick's omelet's, and I obviously can't get that here. They don't even offer the option of an omelet. "I'll just take a Caesar salad and a glass of water," I say, quickly shutting the menu and handing it back to the waitress. She takes it in her hand and walks away, practically running toward the back.

When the lady is no longer in sight I look over at the empty chair beside me. Then I look around, noticing that I'm the only person that's here by their self. I look back at the empty chair, thinking of all the things I would do to have someone sitting in front of me. They wouldn't even have to talk to me, just so long as I'd know that I'm not by myself.

The woman comes back, sits my food down and scurries off once again. She has to hate her job.

In the painful silence of my table I scarf down my food, forcing myself to take in so many sips of water so that I don't get choked. Once I feel the slightest bit fuller I raise my hand, flagging down the waitress.

"I need my bill," I say, and she looks surprised that I'm done already. I can't help it though; I can't stand this feeling of being alone. She hands the slip over to me and I hurriedly push back a twenty into her hand. "Keep the change," I say, jumping up from the table and practically running down the sidewalk toward my hotel.

Once I'm far enough away from the café that I feel somewhat normal again I spot a bench and sit down on it, trying to level out my breathing. I know that I need to just talk to somebody and this feeling will go away so I reach into my purse, grasping at my phone. I've had it turned off for the silence but now I'm turning it back on, mad at myself for letting the silence go on for so long.

My phone starts buzzing immediately, with new messages and new voicemails. I check the messages first and none of them really interest me. It's the voicemails that really get to me. The first one is from Demi.

"Hey Miles, I know we talked yesterday and that I probably shouldn't be worrying right now, but I just really want to make sure that you make it back okay. Please call me or text me, or just something to let me know that you got there okay," and the message cuts off. Not to self: call Demi.

The next one is from Denise.

"Miley, I just heard that you left. And I just wanted to let you know that if you ever need anything then you can call me, I don't want this mishap to come between us. You're still very special to me regardless. I hope that you're enjoying being… home. We miss you already," and that message cuts off. The tears prick my eyes. I never realized just how much I was going to miss everyone.

The last one is from Nick.

"Miles, I just, please come back," I can hear his voice cracking throughout the entire message. The tears spill over, and soon enough I can taste the salty liquid that's slipped between my lips.

It's like a replay of that one day, the worst day of my life. I can't control the tears. I drop my phone into my purse and dig my face into my hands, knowing that my makeup is all over my face by now. I feel like a big baby, sitting on a bench in front of some store crying my eyes out. But I have no control. I have no control over anything anymore.

This is only the first day of me being on my own; my first day of being back in what I thought was home. The first day and I already doubt my control, and I know that there's no way I'm going to be able to make it like this.

**A/n:** I forgot to post Saturday & Sunday… super sorry! But, here it is. Thanks SO much for all your reviews on the last one, this one isn't as interesting but soon the story will come out :)


	18. Chapter 18

**New Habits  
Eighteen.**

Two weeks have passed and I'm back in Demi's driveway. It's a relief to be back in Tennessee if I'm honest, but I know that the day after tomorrow I'll be heading back to the city and that causes the relief to just wash away. I honk the horn on my car and watch as Demi scurries out of the house, down the steps and into my car.

"Sorry it took me so long, Joe wanted to come, stupid boy, I thought everyone knew that the groom isn't supposed to see the bride in the wedding gown until she walks down the aisle," she rolls her eyes, looking over at me. Suddenly her facial expression changes into one of worry. I realize that I haven't replaced my makeup from the tears the spilled over on the ride down here and lips are curved into a deep frown. "Are you okay, Miles?" she asks, placing her hand on my shoulder.

I adjust my posture, and smile the biggest smile I can muster, "I'm fine Demi, never been better. Now, let's go try on some dresses," I say, focusing on pulling my car out of the driveway. I can tell that she's aware of my counterfeit happiness, but as long as she's avoiding the subject I don't care.

The one hour drive to the mall, which contains the closest bridal shop from Demi's house, is very silent and not that comfortable silence that I'd be okay with, but the awkward silence where Demi is examining my face closely. This means that I have to force the brightest smile on to my face for the entire car ride, because I'm not willing to let her bring up the fact that I'm not fine and we should talk about it. I have to withhold the sigh of relief that's begging to be released when I pull the vehicle into the first parking spot I see in front of the mall.

Without saying a word, I get out of the car. I lock it up and go around the car to wait for Demi to straighten out her dress. "I'm so excited," she says, her eyes no longer lingering on my face but on my eyes as she says this.

"Me too," I say. I walk up to her and we make our way up to the mall's front doors. She immediately leads me to the bridal shop, her eyes wondering brightly over the array of white dresses. A woman walks up to her, a friendly smile on her face.

"May I help you?" she asks, looking over at me when Demi can't take her eyes off of the brightly lit store.

"We have an appointment with Tracy," I say, walking up to Demi and pushing her along when the sales lady starts to lead us toward Tracy.

"Hi there Demi," the Tracy lady greets and Demi immediately snaps out of her trance, looking over at the lady. "Are you ready to get started?" she asks, Demi nods, she's yet to utter a word since we got here. Tracy leads us toward a station that's surrounded in mirrors and has a couple of chairs. I take my seat, ready to give my opinion. "Let's start by talking about your price range," Tracy starts off. I completely block them out, though I'm incredibly happy that Demi has started talking. I don't know the answers to any of these questions.

Soon enough Tracy disappears and Demi looks over at me, a squeal escaping her lips. "I can't believe I'm doing this!" she says, bouncing on her toes. I laugh quietly, smiling at her antics.

And just like that Tracy reappears, multiple dresses piled onto her arms. She motions Demi toward the dressing room and Demi quickly scurries in. In a matter of minutes she's back outside, wearing an entirely way too frilly dress. Demi reaches the mirrors, her eyes go wide and she hurries back into the dressing room. Obviously, that wasn't the one.

The second dress she comes out in isn't as frilly; in fact, it's not frilly at all. It doesn't suit her. Demi's personality doesn't fit a dress that doesn't have a little bit of poof and a little bit of frill. She goes back to the dressing room.

Out comes the third dress and while this one has a unique design in the beading it just doesn't fit her right. I look over at Tracy, noticing that the amount of dresses she has lined up is quickly disintegrating. "Do you mind if I go take a look?" I ask, motioning toward the racks filled with the dresses.

"Of course, go ahead," she smiles and I get up from my chair, observing dress after dress. When I come back I have a total of three dresses that I think could completely fit Demi's style. I hand her the first one when I'm back at her station. She takes it inside the dressing room and comes out moments later.

Though the dress looked incredible on the hanger, I don't necessarily it brings out everything that Demi has to offer and I quickly hand her the second dress. It takes her longer to come out this time and when she does, tears are gathering in her eyes. Immediately we all know that this is the dress Demi will end up with.

It's a beautiful strapless dress that is tight in the torso made from satin. At the waist there's a simple bow that's detailed with a flowery design which gives it just the right amount of frill. Then the dress flows out in a tulle material. It's perfect.

"This is it, I'm not trying on anymore, this is the one I want," she announces. And just like that, the deal is made. Demi has her dress.

It takes a matter of minutes for Demi to get out of her dress. Tracy holds the dress at the counter while she takes us into a separate section of the store that holds a variety of dresses designed for bridesmaids. It doesn't take nearly as long for us to pick out a dress for me to wear.

My dress is a simple strapless number in the orange color Demi picked out for the autumn wedding that gathers at the waist and flows down to my knee. It's simple, yet elegant. We take that dress over to the counter. Demi pays for her dress first, then I bring up the rear, paying the price of my dress.

"Let's go eat," Demi announces as soon as we exit the bridal shop, "I'm starving!" We make our way to the food court in the mall, get our food and settle down at an empty table. "So, I know you don't want to talk about but I seriously think we should discuss the Rachel issue," Demi says, I gulp down the food in my mouth, instantly feeling sick at my stomach. I should've known she couldn't just let it go.

"Demi, seriously, every time you bring this up the angrier I get. I've heard enough about the issue, I don't want to know anymore. So just drop it," I say, my tone layered in a thick tone of angry.

"Fine, fine," she says, putting her hands up in a sign of surrender, "I'll shut up, but only on one condition," she says, her eyebrow twitching up.

"And what's that?" I ask, ready to agree to anything to get her to shut up.

"You have to go to the shop tomorrow and talk to Nick," she says, taking a bite of her food as if she's asked for the simplest agreement.

"No, Demi you know I can't!" I exclaim, looking at her with wide eyes. She looks at me, shaking her finger at me.

"Oh, but you can. All you have to do is go in the shop and talk to him. You've talked to him every day for months, I'm sure you can handle a simple conversation that won't last any longer than, say, twenty minutes?" she says, the smirk that's identical to Nick's showing up on her face.

"It doesn't matter," I say, letting my shoulders slump. When that happens, I've officially let my guard down, "He won't tell me why he and this woman are engaged. He just keeps begging to let me tell him, but if it wasn't that big of a deal then he would've told me already," I tell her.

"Miles," she says, reaching over and grabbing my hands, "I promise that if you heard the story you would completely understand. And while I'm tempted to tell you right here, right now, I think that you need to hear it from him. Tomorrow you need to go to the shop and demand that he tell you the story. Sometimes my brother is stupid, he doesn't understand the things that run through a girl's mind and I'm sure he's just trying to be polite by asking you to let him explain but you need to let him know that he just needs to come out with it," she says.

"Is Rachel still staying at his house?" I ask, not even thinking before the words slip through my lips.

"No, Miles, he sent her home as soon as you left his house two weeks ago," she announces, and I can't help but feel a slight amount of relief being taken from my shoulders.

"Fine, I'll go talk to him, but if I don't like what I hear, then I'm leaving and I'm going to be really mad at you for making me go over there and listen to his crap," I say, looking at her with warning eyes.

"I'm willing to take that risk," she says, going back to her food.

"So, is it alright if I stay at your house tonight?" I ask, knowing that I'll be ten times more comfortable at her home rather than that hotel.

"Of course Miles, any time," she says. Now, I'm just going to have to spend the rest of my day preparing for what's to come tomorrow.

**A/n:** I don't like this chapter. In a whole, it didn't turn out the way I wanted, but I'm too lazy to figure out why and I really just want to get to the next chapter :).  
I'm going to be gone for the weekend, but I will get the next chapter finished soon so that I can post it, ASAP! :)


	19. Chapter 19

**New Habits  
Nineteen.**

I'm standing in front of the car shop, and I'm not even sure how I got here. One second I woke up, realizing I'd only slept two hours but couldn't fall back to sleep then the next second I am standing in front of the car shop. The place that I promised I would visit today. And now, I'm wishing that I hadn't.

My eyes make their way down to my boots; suddenly I'm very interested in the messy lacing of the black colored shoes. I hit my toes together a couple few times, then look back up at the building. I take a deep breath and force myself inside; it's time to rip the bandage off the skin.

Unlike my first visit here, I don't stand in the front and wait for someone to come out and ask why I'm here; I open the door that leads into the back and start looking around. Everyone's hard at work so I'm forced to look around at the feet that are sticking out from under random vehicles. After looking at five different pairs of shoes I finally spot Nick's beat up pair of brown boots underneath a beat up black car.

I bend down, spotting his mess of curls before I tug on his pant leg. I hear a sigh come from underneath the vehicle, some clanging of metal and then his body starts to roll out. I stand up, shoving my hands in the front pockets of my jeans. His face is completely startled, his mouth wide open and his eyes wide.

"Hi," I say, allowing my lips to slip into a small smile.

"Miley," he says, quickly standing up before wiping the grease from his hands on to his black work pants. "Oh, Miles, oh my gosh, I need to talk to you," he stutters, swiping his now clean hand through his hair.

"Right, that's why I'm here, we need to talk," I practically repeat his words, because honestly I'm not even sure if he knows what he just said to me.

"Okay," he says, nodding his head. He starts to reach for my hand but quickly pulls his own hand back toward his body. "Let's go outside," he states, motioning toward the door that leads to the outside. I nod my head and lead the way through the door. Once I'm outside I notice a picnic table a few feet away and sit down. Nick follows directly after me.

"Miles, I made a terrible mistake just letting you go," he starts right off, wasting no time at all, "I shouldn't have just let you walk away without explaining this big mess to you. And I most definitely shouldn't have let you go on the note of you telling me that you'll always love me and not replying back. I don't know what I was thinking, actually I wasn't thinking. I wasn't thinking at all. I love you Miley, I always will. And this time I'm not going to let you leave without telling you everything that really happened between me and Rachel," he says. Honestly, I'm shocked. When everything was being put into my head about a fiancée he was begging to let me let him explain when I was wishing he would just spit it out. Now he's doing exactly what I wanted him to do from the beginning. I wonder if Demi had anything to do with this…

It doesn't even though, if Demi had anything to do with this, because Nick is continuing with his speech. Not wasting a breath.

"I met Rachel four years ago, and we instantly hit it off. It was, what I thought was love at first sight. We dated for two years, and I knew that if we could stay together through all the fights that two years had provoked from us that we could last for a lifetime, so I proposed to her. And, obviously, she said yes. When I proposed it was toward the end of the summer and Rachel claimed she wanted a summer wedding so we waited for summer to roll back around. Once June rolled around and Rachel still hadn't made any plans for the wedding I was a little thrown off, I figured she would want to be picking out her dress and the venue before July, which was our planned wedding month. When I questioned her she just said that she was looking around, no need to be worried, we still had a month. About a week after I questioned her about her planning I came home from work to see that all her stuff was gone, she had left, without leaving so much as a note to explain why she had decided to up and run," he explains, looking down at his hands now, fiddling with his fingers. I put my hand on top of his; he quickly looks up, a smile showing up on his face.

"Anyways," he continues, "She left, obviously with the ring, and I just assumed that since she had left that we were over. That the engagement was off, and I'm sure that that's what she thought when she left too. I didn't date anyone for the entire year after she left, I was a big mess. Then, that one day, you walked into the shop and it was like I didn't even think of Rachel anymore, I know that sounds extremely cheesy and something off the movies, but that's what it was like. I completely forgot about Rachel, and at first I thought you were going to be one of those hard headed city girls with your demanding for your car to be fixed right away. But then you came in and started to show your true personality, the one that I've got to know so well and somewhere along those lines I fell in love with you, and then Rachel came back and spoiled everything," he ends, a definite snarl on his lips.

"So, why'd she come back?" I ask, now completely over the fact that he was somewhat engaged to this girl.

"She had left to California to pursue her dreams as an actress and find a handsome actor boyfriend. When she got there she tried out for every part that she could find, not landing a spot in any of them. And evidently, no boy there could stand her newly found personality as a total snob. So, she came back to try and get back together with me. She came to my house first, to tell me she had come back for us, but when I wasn't there she decided to visit my parents first, which just so happens to be where you were," he explains.

"I'm so sorry Nick," I gush, tears starting to gather in my eyes.

"No, Miles, there's nothing for you to be sorry for. I'm the one that's sorry; I should've just gone ahead and told you about Rachel as soon as we started dating. I promise that I'll never keep something that big from you again."

I nod my head and get up from the seat, moving to his side of the table and wrapping my arms around his neck. He wraps his arms around my waist and pulls me down on to his lap. He presses his head into the crook of my neck and we just sit there for a few minutes, allowing the information to swirl through my mind.

"I have to go back and get my stuff," I say, pulling away from him only slightly. "But, when I come back, which I'm planning on doing in two weeks for Demi's wedding planning stuff, then I think at that point we should start our relationship again. Because I don't do that whole long distance stuff," I tell him.

"Of course, just as long as you're coming back I don't even care," he says. We smile at each other. I'm so glad that he's not really engaged to that woman, because I honestly don't think I could've went back to live in the city knowing that we weren't going to be together.

"I love you," I blurt out, leaning down and kissing his lips. His smile grows and he leans up, kissing me just a tad longer than I had kissed him.

"I love you too."

**A/n:** So, you all can be happy again :) I've been thinking about the rest of this story and there's possibly one two more chapters left. :(  
But, I'm writing on a new story that I think I'm going to put on here.


	20. Chapter 20

**New Habits  
Twenty.**

We're all loaded into Demi's SUV, traveling back to the mall in search of tuxes for the men. In the front Demi and Joe are fussing over something, it seems as if they never stop going at each other. And me and Nick are in the backseat, just enjoying the comfort of being back in each other's arms.

I see the mall approaching and shuffle in his arms, trying to sit up but he locks his arms around me tighter. I giggle and looks up at him, "I have to get up Nick," I tell him.

"I know," he says, and then he leans down and places his lips on top of mine. My lips turn up into a smile and I quickly kiss him back. When he pulls away we're both smiling and then he unwraps his arms from around me and I sit up just as we're pulling into a space in the parking lot.

We all get out of the car and start walking toward the mall, Nick's figure appearing next to mine before he latches our fingers together. I smile up at him, moving my body closer to his. He leans down and presses his lips to the top of my head momentarily. When I look up we're a couple few steps behind Demi and Joe.

Once we're inside the mall I follow the leader to the shop that's full of tuxes. I feel like I was just here yesterday in a shop full of wedding dresses.

"Okay," Joe starts off, turning toward Nick, who just so happens to be the best man, "I'm thinking that we should limit ourselves to two hundred dollars altogether today, how's that sound?" he questions, a giant grin on his face. When Nick goes to agree with his wishes Demi scoffs, throwing her hands on her hips and doing the perfect eye roll.

"There's no way you all are leaving with a two hundred dollar ticket, more like five hundred or more. Get ready to spend lots of money," she says, motioning for me to follow her toward the tuxes that she's already pegged as an option.

I follow Demi like a maid of honor would and Joe sighs heavily, "This is ridiculous," he says, before reluctantly following behind us.

"So," Demi starts as soon as we've stopped right behind her, "depending on what these looks like on you two depends on which one we're going to get. If they both look hideous then I'll just have to find something else," she says, handing Nick and Joe each two full tuxes. Then, without a second thought, she pushes them each inside a dressing room and tells them to hurry, she doesn't have all day. Oh, how I love Demi when it comes to boys.

I start to laugh at her antics and she quickly turns toward me, a bright smile on her face, "You have to be all about control when it comes to guys," she states, pointing her finger at me and tilting her head under, "Remember that."

"I surely will," I say, plopping down on the couch conveniently located in front of the dressing rooms.

Nick comes out first, sporting a giant smile. Once he's completely in view of both of us he does a quick turn, allowing us to look over the entire tux.

"I don't like it," Demi says, turning toward me. I agree immediately, since Demi is going for the open tux that's the main point I look at and this tux is by far too open in the front. "Joe!" Demi yells lightly so she doesn't get any weird looks, though she is even with the lower version of her yelling.

"What?" he yells back, his voice laced with his feeling of being annoyed.

"You don't need to show us the first one that's got the stripes, I hate it," she informs him. A big groan comes from his dressing room.

"Are you serious, Demi? I just got that one on!" he whines, sounding exactly like a little kid. I giggle lightly, and watch Nick walk back to his dressing room.

"Of course I'm serious Joe, I wouldn't joke about something like that," she states, throwing her hands up in the air as if he can see her.

Within minutes Nick is already back out in the second tux, doing the exact same spin as he did last time. I can't help but admire how calm he is about this whole thing, especially compared to Joe who has still yet to come out of his dressing room.

"I love it," Demi says, getting up from the couch and looking over every inch of the suit. "Does it feel comfortable?" she asks, looking up at Nick from her squatting position because she just got done looking at the seam at the bottom of the pants.

"Feels great," he says.

"What do you think about it Miles?" Demi asks, looking over at me.

"I think it's a winner," I announce. While the jacket is still open, it's not nearly as wide of an opening as the last and it definitely suits him well.

"Good, now if Joe would ever come out we could make a final decision," Demi says, walking over to the dressing room, "Joe, come on!" she yells.

While Demi is arguing with Joe about his lack of ability to pull on a few articles of clothing in the matter of minutes Nick sits down beside me on the couch, wrapping his arm around me. He leans toward me, placing a gentle kiss on my cheek.

"Hello there Mr. Handsome," I say with a slight giggle.

"Hello Ms. Beautiful," he whispers, leaning toward me once again, stopping once our foreheads are touching. "I'm so glad you're back," he tell me, placing a small kiss on my lips.

"Me too," I agree, leaning forward and kissing him again.

At that time Joe finally decides to come out with his tux completely on. I lean away from Nick, but he keeps his arm wrapped securely around my shoulders. Demi claps excitedly, then pushes him back inside the dressing room.

"You can change back into your clothes now," she says, looking toward Nick when she announces this. Nick nods, kisses me quickly then scurries off to the dressing room. "You all are so cute together," she says when she comes back over to where I am.

"Thanks," I whisper, biting down on my bottom lip.

A few minutes later and the boys have already returned in their normal clothing, obviously Joe found it a lot easier to get out of a tux and into his own clothing a heck of a lot easier. Nick's immediately by my side when he's back to normal clothes, and hand in hand we walk behind the bickering couple over to the different colored swatches you can choose from.

"Miley, I desperately need your help on this one," she says, looking over the different colors of oranges. "Nick's vest and tie needs to be the same color orange as yours," she says, and I hold my finger up.

"I've got you covered," I say, pulling out my camera from my purse. Luckily, I already thought of this problem arising and took a quick shot of the color of my dress. We carefully compare the picture to the different colors and finally decide on the color that matches it. We look over the giant shelf of the different colors and match up the codes. Then Demi picks out the white color she wants for Joe's.

"Finally," Joe says, throwing his head back in exasperation, "we're finished!"

"Um, not so fast big boy," Demi says, pointing toward the direction of the shoes.

"Dems! Me and Nick already have black dress shoes, we don't need a new pair for the wedding!" Joe exclaims, extremely ready to get out of here.

"I don't care, I want your shoes to look brand new and in order for that to happen you need brand new shoes," Demi says, not allowing him to respond as she grabs his wrist and literally drags him over to the shoes. Nick and I follow behind them, small laughs coming through our lips.

As we're walking behind them I look up at Nick, "You better not act even remotely close to how Joe's acted today when it comes time for our wedding," I say.

"Of course not babe," he says, stopping us once we're close to the shoes. He leans down and kisses me, keeping his forehead on mine when he pulls away, "I'll do whatever you want for our wedding."

**A/n:** I kind of shortened this one from what I had planned to keep it not as boring as it could have been by adding some niley stuff in there.  
next chapters the last :( but, go check out my new story 'Always Second Best' :)


	21. Chapter 21

**New Habits  
Twenty-One.**

It's the day of Demi and Joe's wedding and I don't think I've ever saw the two of them any happier than they are right now. They've already made their way down the aisle and as they stand in front of each other the smiles on their faces are the confirmation that this is the happiest day of their lives. It's probably the first time I've not saw the two of them bickering back and forth about some foolishness. It's the picture perfect moment that everyone asks for in life.

I glance over at Nick, who's standing directly opposite of me, he's staring straight back into my eyes with a goofy grin on his face. Maybe he's thinking about our moment of unity that I guarantee will be just as enjoyable as this one and so much more for the two of us, whenever that day may come.

I turn my gaze back toward Demi and Joe just in time for the kiss, the kiss the ultimately seals the deal at the wedding. It's the last step, the final process. Their lips mesh together and I can faintly see the smiles still spread across their faces while they're kissing, then they pull apart and just look at each other, nothing over than love filling each eye. Then in a split second they look toward the audience that is overtaking the small church and make their way back down the aisle, leaving this place as one.

My feet start working their magic without me even thinking about it and I meet Nick in the middle. We link arms and make our way down the aisle. And as soon as we're out the door the conversations are ignited within the church house, considering Nick and I concluded the wedding seeing as we're the only individuals of Demi and Joe's wedding party.

The doors close behind us and I grin at Demi and Joe smiling at each other in the corner. I reach into the pocket that my dress so conveniently has and pull out my phone, quickly snapping a picture of them in their finest moments. As many petty fights as they get in I'm going to need this picture to remind me why I even wanted them together in the first place.

The click on my phone sounds and immediately I feel arms wrap around my waist from behind and a kiss being placed on my neck. "What are you? A stalker?" his voice questions, a slight chuckle coming afterwards.

"Just enjoying the quiet moments of their relationship," I say, turning myself around so I'm facing him. I wrap my arms around his neck and step onto my tip toes so I can kiss him. He eagerly moves his hand to my neck, deepening the kiss.

Then the doors to the church open and the people that just witnessed a marriage are hungry and ready for the reception. I pull away from Nick's embrace, a smile gracing my face and pull him by his hand to the side that Demi and Joe are on, waiting to see their guests out.

Each person passes by us, either shaking our hands or complimenting the way that we look. Then there's the swarm of Nick's family that instantly asks questions about who I am and where I come from when they see us holding hands or sharing a quick kiss. And there's those couple of people that are brave enough to wink and ask when the next wedding will be.

And even though I don't say it out loud because I know I'm getting ahead of myself, I can't help but hope that the next wedding comes very, very soon.

After a quick change of clothing, which is not even that big of a change I just put on a more comfortable dress, we head over to the venue for the reception. Nick and I insisted that we take Nick's vehicle to the venue, for the sake of our sanity and Demi and Joe's privacy. He pulls into a parking spot, quickly gets out of the car and runs over to my side. He opens the door and holds my hand as I'm stepping out.

"You're such a gentleman," I say, watching as he shuts the car door.

"Not for long," he replies, my face scrunches up into one of confusion. Then, he's in front of me and has grabbed the backside of my thighs, "Jump on," he says. I just shake my head, there's no way I'm going into a reception full of Nick's family on his backside.

But, that doesn't stop him. He bends forward just the slightest bit and does a jump, using his arms to force me onto his back. "Nick, put me down," my voice is stern, and I'm sure that it will work. But I can feel that smirk of his radiating from his face.

"Nope," he says.

"Nick, seriously, I'm wearing a dress everyone's going to be able to see my stuff!" I squeal, slapping his back. He just chuckles, stopping in front of the steps.

"No one's going to see your stuff Miley," he says.

"Yes, they are Nick, I'm wearing a dress!" I say, trying to get the point across to him.

"No, Miles, no one's going to see your stuff because it's pressed against my back right now so don't even try that excuse. Would you like to try and make another one before I walk inside?" he questions. I look down, a faint blush rising on my cheeks. He is right.

"No," I whisper, and with that he takes off up the stairs and into the building.

Once we're inside he finally sits me back down on the ground, and laces his fingers through mine. "That wasn't very nice," I say, looking up at him.

"You enjoyed it," he says, leaning down and pecking my lips quickly. I roll my eyes playfully and then he leads me over to our designated table. We take our seats and began talking.

"I think you should move back in with me," Nick announces, his face completely serious.

"You're going to have to get rid of the animal heads, they freak me out. Every time I wake up it's like they're right there in my face and it's just… creepy," I say, watching the emotions on his face to make sure that he's okay with it and not just doing it for the sake of my moving back in.

"That's fine Miles, I'll just move them into the basement, you never go down there," he says. I smile and lean over, he leans in toward me and we kiss soft and sweet. Like nothing can touch us.

All around us people start to get to their feet, applauding. I pull away from the kiss and see Demi and Joe walking through the doors, their faces flushed. They've obviously had a make out session on the way here. I stand to my feet, and follow the lead of everyone else by clasping my hands together. Arms wrap around me and I tilt my face, looking toward Nick.

"That's going to be us soon," he says, connecting his lips to mine. I smile at the connection and lean my body toward his.

I was a city girl, dating a useless man that didn't appreciate me that decided to leave and start over. And this where it's got me, I'm dating a grease monkey of all people, hopelessly in love and dreaming about the day that we can unite as one.

**The End.**

**A/n:** I planned this chapter in a completely different way than it turned out. And I'm extremely sorry for the amount of time it took for me to write it, a lot of stuff went down between the last chapter and this one.  
I'm extremely sad to see this story go, because it's honestly the one story that I've stayed completely engaged in and not wanted to quit. Probably because it's short. But, thanks to all my readers. I hope you all enjoyed it. I'll now be completely focusing on Always Second Best, if you want to go check that one out :)


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